William Limoen sipped his drink. He didn't like it; it was a Utarian cocktail of tea and vodka, one that his Colonists had permuted with the local tea leaves and schnapps of peach. Sabaca already tasted excessively like medicine that used poor flavorings to mask that biley taste, and the residents of Starburst hadn't even managed to improve upon that.

Then again, it was Limoen's fault for selecting it.

The rest of the meal had been grand - the Three Sheets Brewpub may have seen like a dingy dimeless drunkard's dockside dive, and yes, the Viceroy may have been a dingy dimeless drunkard before he was raised high, but it turned out that Viceroy Nubarsch had a head for law and order, and the Merry, the Three Sheets cook and brewmeister, had a penchant for fish stew. They had both defied expectations (however low they were), quite unlike the sabaca.

It was abnormally bad, wasn’t it.

But alas, time had come for business. Merry's barladies had brought out the cheese plate (oxmilk unfortunately substituted for goat), and Limoen began.

"Viceroy, I must thank you for the fine recommendation."

"Don't thank me, thank the cook!"

"Hm," said Limoen as Viceroy Nubarsch melted the cheese onto bread over the candle, "so, Master Viceroy, we must discuss my plan for this colony for the next twenty Fiscal Years."

"That being...?" Nubarsch said as the goat gouda dribbled into the spiced bread.

"I have made the Starburst Colony open on the Untershaicks' Stock Exchange, and it has done well..."

"My apologies, Burgher, but please spare me - I am well aware of the bear market. The Starburst Colony Share value has been split into oblivion!"

"That may be so, Viceroy, but my proposal shall increase the value."

"Then get on with it. Burgher." Said the Viceroy, barely remembering his courtesies. Limoen would let it pass.

"It is time the Starburst Colony expanded and refined - we shall need more land, and we shall need to do more with it. I shall want mining towns near the Tawanti Mountains, and irrigation systems built to make the desert bloom. I want this colony to prosper, and to generate ten times more wealth than it does already."

"Burgher, such things are impossible in a hundred years, let alone twenty!"

"You will do them in ten."

"Burgher!"

"VICEROY." Limoen said, raising his voice. Merry looked over, but most others did not, and the duo of Joel and Billy played the piano while everyone else balanced on the edge of tipsy.

Limoen calmed himself.

"Viceroy, there is another matter. Avereche is a land of great wealth - it must be made ours."

"But Burgher, this colony can barely muster 30,000 men."

"Your have until the year 959 to increase that capability threefold. I shall also arrange for 10,000 Mainland soldiers to come, and supplies enough for the whole operation. Avereche must be incorporated by 960. In this time, I shall arrange for the invasion of Tawanti to be complete by 965."

"Burgher, this proposal is... impossible. An immense infrastructure project, a total revision of Viceroyalty charter, domination of Avereche in five years, domination of Tawanti in ten? I can do many things-"

"And you will do this one too. I have left similar instructions for Corona, and I will be arranging for a new Viceroyalty in Scigiri soon. By 980, I want these colonies to outpace Salvadare in economic strength, and be able to hold out against any enemy."

"...you ask me to do the impossible."

"You are required to, by your contract."

The Viceroy was silent for a moment. A moment became a minute, and a minute became an hour as Merry brought over tankards and refills of the house mead. It was refreshing compared to the sabaca, but failed to wash the vitriol out of Burgher Limoen's mouth.

"Very well, Burgher. I will do this deed."

"You will be richly rewarded."

"I demand a manse. In Novoporto!"

"Done," said the Burgher Limoen, as he rolled his eyes and sipped at the tankard. Ah, the bartering phase.

"And a pension!"

"Done."

"Servants?"

"Done."

"A wife?"

"Hmm, done."

"Two wives! Three!"

"Done."

"Burgherhood?"

"Don't push it," said Burgher Limoen as he wheeled himself out of the establishment.

[M]: We're making big changes around our colonies, and have a very ambitious plan we likely won't keep to. Nevertheless, we shall press on. Also we have a stock exchange.