On the planet of Beshun, a large and sand-scraped structure of metal, plastic and layers of glass sat under a boiling blue-white star. Surrounded on three sides by heat-hazed desert and on one side by a long stretch of mag-rail transport trains, its translucent construct gleamed like a diamond. Ships descended from a starbase many miles above to land within its boundaries, bringing goods from all corners of the charted galaxy.

A planetary dockyard.

Inside, amidst the heaving whir of the air-conditioning machines was almost as loud as the thrumming of the landing ships' engines, a young human woman was sat alone on a bench.

This on its own was not noteworthy, for the dockyard contained people of almost every species, her own kind included. Kropen lumbered by on their rear legs and knuckles, immensely heavy loads strapped to their backs. Other humans strolled past her as they walked between docking stations. Even a few Sirthon walked through the premises.

However, what made the seated woman stand out from the crowd was her attire. While everyone else there was garbed in the simple and practical attire of a labourer, the body armour of a soldier, or the rag-tag gear of a hired mercenary, she was different.

She wore a long and close-fitting dress of thick turquoise fabric that gave off a reflective sheen. It tightly hugged her neck, body, legs and ankles, constricting her movement, while a detachable hood hung loose from the garment's shoulders. The pointed toes of her high-heeled shoes were just barely visible from underneath the hem of her skirt.

A nametag was pinned to her chest. One that read 'Kate Michaelson.'

Part of her wanted to tear off her dress above the knee so she could move around freely. But the more rational and collected part of her knew all too well that she'd regret it the moment she stepped outside. Without protection, such as the thick fur coats of the Kropen or the mineral-rich scales of the Sirthon, her human skin would burn up almost instantly under Beshun's ultraviolet-intense star.

So she tolerated the restriction to her movement, seeing it as preferable to suffering severe sunburn.

Besides, company policy forbade her from dressing in a less covered manner. In traditional Nalyr culture, showing skin in the workplace or polite company was considered incredibly boorish, and so clothes like the dress she was wearing now were an expectation.

Kate gazed down at the screen of her PDA holotablet, which was switched off in order to conserve power. In it she saw her reflection - a long ponytail of reddish-brown hair, which contrasted heavily with her pale, light-toned skin, and two hazel eyes that looked back up at her from behind a pair of black-framed techno-eyeglasses.

Suddenly, the sound of roaring ship thrusters caught the young woman's attention, and she looked up from where she was. Just across from the bench Kate was sitting on, a large cargo freighter had entered the dockyard, guided into position by its own thrusters and by the vast mechanical docking arms of the landing bay. She stood up and walked towards one of the side doors as the telescopic gangplank extended outwards from the side of the vessel, near to where it said 'Fortune' in the Nalyr language. As this happened, Kate looked up and saw a figure emerge from the ship.

It was male, but not human. If a human were as skinny as him, they would qualify for force-feeding. A gaunt, flat-chested torso barely supported four stick-thin limbs, his arms possessing three fingers and two thumbs on each hand. He stood a good two feet taller than Kate, his bald head gazing down at her from above while his large ears of thin, veiny skin stood aloft and alert.

A Nalyr.

As she met gazes with him, two solid orbs of purple looked back at her and a smile burst onto his thin, lipless mouth.

"Katie!" he exclaimed gleefully, his eyes gleaming as he saw her.

The human woman smiled. "Hey, Raleyan," she replied.

The Nalyr, the captain of the Fortune, strode off the gangplank and promptly hurried up to her on his long and gracile legs. Gripping her PDA against her left wrist, Kate approached him as well, and the two openly embraced.

"Great to see you again, girl!" the alien told her.
Kate smiled as her face pressed into her old friend's narrow chest, the rough fabric of the spacing gear rubbing against her cheek.

"Great to see you too, Ral." Kate told him in kind. Letting go and stepping away, she craned her neck up at him. "How was the journey?"

"Not too bad, actually." The alien said with a sigh. "No run-ins with pirates, no Cartel thugs trying to muscle in on the shipping lanes... to be honest, it was kinda boring."

His words made Kate chuckle.

"Anyways, it's great to see you!" the Nalyr continued. "It's great that you remembered to come see me now that I'm back home again!"

Kate craned her neck up at Raleyan. "Well, sorry to say this, Ral, but I'm actually here on business," she admitted, holding up her PDA. "Vrana sent me."

Ral's smile faded. "Vrana?" he said out loud, a defeated look on his face. "Oh great... what does she want from me now?"

Kate switched her tablet on. "Nothing serious..." she replied. "She just wants an update upon if your workers commented at all about their working conditions. You know, for review and evaluation purposes."

Ral smiled. "Alright," he said with a measure of relief. "I'll just send you the old girl's black box files – that should cover everything."

The Nalyr lifted the wrist of his space suit, and with a few taps of his bony fingers, certified the collection of the Fortune's audio files and sent them to Kate. Instantly appearing upon her tablet screen, Kate received the file and, in turn, submitted it to the company to be reviewed.

It didn't go into her technoglasses, though. Only company-regulated devices were allowed to bear company information, and her sight-aids weren't registered.

Both her and Raleyan worked for Threlgan Shipping Enterprises, or TSE, the largest trading company this side of the Kitaia Expanse. Kate as a Sentient Resources Supervisor, and Raleyan as an independent tradesman contracted by the company. Both of them citizens of the Greater Nalyr Federation, even though they were different species.

As this happened, Raleyan called to the other Nalyr to debark the ship's cargo and start organising it sharpish. He spoke in his species' language, a flowing and fast-talking tongue where individual words all blurred together into one long monologue, but Kate could understand what he meant. Then, the trader turned to her and started speaking in Human again.

"So, how's the old man doing?" he asked.

As he asked that question, a grim and heavy feeling sank into Kate's chest, and her expression fell.

"Not well," she replied, looking at the floor.

"Has he come back to the workplace yet?" Raleyan asked.

The human shook her head grimly in response, a slight glint forming in the tear duct of her right eye.

"Woah..." The male Nalyr remarked.

Kate understood his reaction. It had happened four weeks ago, just a few days before Raleyan had left Beshun behind to transport goods across the stars.

Igol Threlgan, the CEO of the company, fell incredibly ill during a board meeting and was taken to hospital. Neither Kate, nor anyone else knew what was wrong with him.

This was already concerning enough, but more was to come. Through all this time, no meaningful contact or information had been given about Mr Threlgan's condition. Was he making a recovery? Still in hospital? Was he even still in the world of the living?

In the company headquarters where Kate worked, everyone was upset and on edge. If Mr Threlgan was to pass away, it would mean that a new CEO would be chosen. And very few people wanted that to happen...

Raleyan then asked the exact question she had been dreading. "Do we know who might end up replacing him?"

Kate looked at the Nalyr. It wasn't easy to think about, but the truth never was. Mr Threlgan was eighty-eight years old; long-lived by both human and Nalyr standards. It was going to happen at some point.

"Probably Hrafi Threlgan," she replied. "You know, family business, first-born child and all that..."

"Are you sure?" the tall Nalyr captain asked her. "I get the feeling that a different candidate may be on the table..."

The human woman looked at the male Nalyr, her eyes piercing out from behind her glasses. "What are you getting at, Ral?" she asked.

Ral looked at her., a sigh slipping from between his lipless mouth "For Dua's sake, Katie, do I need to spell it out? I'm talking about you!"

Something stung Kate deep inside her chest – a mixture of pain, terror and denial that all blended together. However, she held her nerves, staring at the ship captain and calmly raising an eyebrow.

"Please tell me you're joking..." she replied.

"Why would I be?" the Nalyr asked. "You are his protégé... I can see you being considered for the position."

Kate looked him in his purple-blue eyes. "Sadly, Ral, that won't be happening."

"Why not?" the ship captain asked.

"Because I'm only an SR Supervisor, and you have to be far higher-ranked to even be considered for the CEO's position. Also, Hrafi is the next in the Threlgan line, and she's already the Branch Manager on Zaryis..."

She spoke as if such information was obvious – because it was.

"... and lastly, I don't want to be CEO."

Raleyan tilted his head. "So you're going to turn down a chance at one of the highest-paying jobs in the galaxy and leave it to the branch manager on some backwater world on the other side of the Federation?"

Kate nodded once. "Yes."

There was a pause between them as they stood in the docking bay, the commotion surrounding them seeming to quiet as their gazes held.

"Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I'd rather work for you than for Hrafi." Raleyan eventually said. "That bitch wouldn't know a filing report from a human-made cigar."

Kate looked him in the eyes. "Stop it." It wasn't the coy 'oh, stop it!' of a flustered wallflower trying to brush off a flattering compliment. It was the stern, firm command of a company employee addressing a subordinate.

Strictly speaking, she was a higher rank than him. And besides, you weren't supposed to bad-mouth the Threlgans. Company policy.

"I'm just saying..." Ralayen refused to keep his mouth shut. "The old man might have sent her out there for a reason..."

Kate had heard this around the workplace time and again. Officially, Mr Threlgan had promoted his daughter Hrafi to Branch Manager on the distant planet of Charyis as a way of giving her some prestige in the eyes of both the public and his employees. However, an idea had been circulating amongst a lot of Threlgan employees that he had done this for a very different reason - to keep her away from the central affairs and inner workings of the company.

Miss Michaelson had no doubt that this was due to a certain... reputation that Hrafi had amongst her subordinates. A reputation that may or may not have been deserved at all...

"Rumours, Ral..." she replied, looking at the floor. "Just rumours. Nothing more."

"And did Mr Threlgan ever address these rumours himself?" Ralayen asked.

Kate looked at him and paused. "No."

"Then I rest my case."

Kate didn't argue. The weary feeling building in her chest left her willpower wavering. Several other people had already spoke to her about this since Mr Threlgan fell ill, and she didn't like having to repeat herself.

Everyone knew the boss as 'Mr Threlgan'. She knew him as 'Igol'.

"Well, we'll just have to see..." she replied, sidestepping the conversation.

"I guess so." Raleyan replied. "But anyway, I had best get back to supervising my crew." He said, gesturing over his shoulder with his outer thumb. "They may be content with their work, but they're a useless bunch of dipshits sometimes, believe you me!"

Kate looked at him and tapped on her tablet. "If you don't mind, Captain, I'll submit that comment as 'useless collection of misfits..." she said.

Hearing this, Raleyan acted as if he had gone through a mood swing. He looked back at her and suddenly burst into a hearty chuckle, shaking his head as one of Kate's habits return to haunt him.

"One of these days, Katie... I will get you to swear!" he said with a laugh.

Kate laughed back at him. "Not gonna happen, Ral! My mother raised me right!"

Defeated, the Nalyr smiled and waved before returning back to his ship. Kate waved to him as well, navigating her hologlasses' interface to submit her report. Then, turning around, she strode back through the dockyard towards the mag-trains that led back to the city of Vasilan, where TSE's corporate headquarters, Kate's place of work, was located.

However, all through the journey, she couldn't help but stew over what they had discussed.