Stories from Astyria

[Neu Engollon]

THE STREETS OF KONSTANZ, KERZ

As Martyne and Tiffany walk, they are surrounded by people browsing windows, shopping well into the evening. All sorts of major Astyrian and world clothing, electronics and gourmet companies have outlets in Konstanz. There are unique local shops intermixed in, as well. One traditional shop has cuckoo clocks, a specialty product from central Neu Engollon. Restaurants are also packed at this hour, with many folks in various states of formal to casual dress waiting out onto the sidewalk for an open table. Others who have already been seated are digging into a variety of both local Nikolian and Neu Engollian fare, as well as International delights. A few stragglers are popping out for one last cigarette before their order arrives at their table. Smoking is on the wane in both nations that share the metropolis, and it's been 8 years since smoking was banned inside all establishments, 15 years since the last cigarette, pipe or cigar was smoked inside a Konstanz dining establishment.

Street performers are on some of the corners: jugglers, buskers with guitars, accordions, violins, mandolins, flutes, saxophones and many other instruments, magicians and sometimes just ranting madmen that have attracted a crowd. Mental illness is on the rise in Neu Engollon, as evidenced by some of the nutty characters that Martyne and Tiffany have run into on their journey. Many are blaming rampant, unregulated capitalism, with companies being able to put many untested chemicals and ingredients, both infused in food products and in use during the harvesting process in produce and grains. BDI, the major national conglomerate that owns several food production subsidiaries, has made headlines lately as they move to phase out such identified harmful chemicals. It is a belated move to improve their image, but every little bit helps.

PARKING LOT OF DINA WAGKAM
NEAR RINDLEHEIM, GLARUS

Police arrive on scene as not only Scorpio and Joanne, but several other disturbed overnight residents have also called in. This isn't the first time that the police have been called to the Dina Wagkam. There is overlapping jurisdiction as the truck stop/diner/rest area happens to be a bit outside the Rindleheim Township, so the National Gendarme local patrol and the Rindleheim PD usually trade every other night. The Gendarmes pick up the odd night out of the week. On this particular night, it is the local metro PD that happens to be on call for the area. The Rindleheim coppers show up in a neon lime green Sbartig Enforcer patrol car.

By the time they have arrived, it's all over, with mighty Pirate Piet sitting propped up against a neighboring rig's driver side tire, holding his head in his hands and blood streaming from between his fingers from a gashed open cheek. He moans and mutters little swears under his breath. Marty is cozied back into his cab and his lady friend has scooted off to wherever she came from.

As they approach, without weapons drawn even in a known rough area, at least for this rural part of Glarus canton, the Rindleheim cops chat casually,
"Eh...Cozzfick. Looks like Pirate Piet from here."

"Bien. That loser? Heca va'rnuv (Here we go again). When will he learn."

"Look who's rig he's sittin' outside from. Mad Marty's."

"I got Deja vu all over again."

"All a' ya clear out a here! NOW! Unless ya want ta be hauled in."
The small crowd of onlookers scatter back to their rigs and vehicles.

The police officers saunter down the rows of trucks until they wind up standing in front of Piet. One cop, with the nametape of Carenza, turns and starts to knock on Marty's cab door, ready to get out of the way should it swing open quick.

The other officer, Thoenfeld, looks down on Piet.
"Ya got it agin, didya? When will ya learn, Piet?"

"Uufh...Officer Thoenfeld, s'not me fault. Ya gotta get Marty. He assaultered n' adulated me. 'E don' fight fair."

Thoenfeld laughed at the scrambled phrasing.
"Piet, we have heard this story from ya so many times before. Looks like ya'll be joinin' us down at tha station ta-night."

Meanwhile, Carenza knocked again and debated his next step. Luckily, he wouldn't have to resort to anything more drastic as Marty creaked open the door to his rig cab.
"Piet, ya come back fer seconds? I will serious...Oh. Hallo o'zzfer. What kin I doos fer ya?"

"Marty. We need ta talk. Did ya smack round Piet?"

Marty looks out to where Piet is splayed out on the asphalt with Officer Thoenfeld hovering over him.
"Wouldja look at dat? Poor guy. Wonder wot happen..." He leans out further, lowering his voice to a somewhat staged fake whisper, "Off'zer, between ya n' me, he'z got de...issues. Ya know what I mean?"

Carenza shook his head, smirking.
"So do ya, Marty. So do ya. What are we gonna do here, friend?"

"I don' know, Off'zer. Help him out?"

Carenza looks up at the trucker, then back to where his partner is assisting Piet to his feet.
"I'll git back to ya, Marty. Don't go nowhere. Not that ya should be drivin' anywhere in yer state."

"Ya betcha, Off'zer."

Eventually, they settle things. Miraculously, Piet doesn't press charges against Marty. The girl is nowhere to be seen. Eventually, the police still decide to bring Piet in, if only to cool off and sober up so he doesn't drive off and do anything drastic. Likely he will be released in the morning despite a bail posted. With Piet's 'popularity', no bail out would be expected. When the patrol car heads off, all is quiet again until true dawn.

Truckers tumble out of their cabs and head back to where the showers and a small outpost reside behind the diner. They stretch and yawn. Some head straight for the diner to get their morning coffee or tea before hitting the road to get their haul to its destination and pick up their next load.

[Aurora Confederacy]

PARKING LOT OF DINA WAGKAM
NEAR RINDLEHEIM, GLARUS

With the police on scene, Scorpio returns to her bunk, albeit dressed whilst Ravage settles back down with Joanne. She is infact Scorpio's dog however she can't be arsed it seems to jump up onto the bunk, or for that matter, even try! and so with the scene under control Scorpio and Joanne relax for a while whilst the fracas dies down as they, not being local, quite simply do not wished to get involved.

When the time to get moving came along, Scorpio took her position in the driving seat and fired the big air cooled V12 up to allow it to warm up. The engine, having been stood idle for the best part of 11 hours spun sweetly for a few seconds on the starter motor then with a sudden rumble and eruption of exhaust smoke burst into life and spun up to around 1500 revs for a while as the engine built up its air supply that over the night had slowly drained away and with the engine idling Scorpio reached for the leash which instantly made ravage go to her and totally ignore Joanne! Once on the ground with the dog by her side, Scorpio did a quiet, careful walk around to check the trailer and the prime mover as well as let the dog do what she needed to do which was promptly bagged and binned soon after whilst Joanne made herself ready for the day ahead as Scorpio put Ravage onto the foot well then climbed inside, closing the door behind her.

"well, lets go" she says, slipping the truck into gear and releasing the park brake.

"know where we're going?" asked Joanne

"where ever the white lines take us, where ever they go, for sooner or later they will take us to Nikolia then home" says Scorpio as she eases the truck across the moonscape of a parking lot though Ravage soon found her favourite place, sat on the engine cover with her head resting on the dashboard looking out the cab windscreen whilst Joanne puts her feet onto the dashboard and settles in for the next 4 hours that will take them in a generally northerly direction....

_{their journey continues....}

[Terre des Gaules]

PORT-AU-PROSPERITE
COTE D' CUIVRE

Alassane smiled a bit, his bright white teeth almost radiating from his mouth before he laughed "As often as I can, monsieur Arnie! I am glad you like the food! Shall we order some palm wine to chase it down?" he said, before motioning to a nearby boy and shouting something at him in a native tongue sending the child scurrying off into the crowd. A few moments later, the boy reappeared carrying two paper cups of a thick, white, almost milk like liquid. Alassane handed the boy some crumbled bills, leaving the boy with a large smile and a "Merci!" before he disappeared into the crowd again.

The guide took a sip of his drink before continuing to dig into his meal. "After this, monsieur, I will take you to the old governor's mansion, where there was a great evacuation as the city fell to the local forces. And after, we will drive out to Koumacoury, and see where the war really began. Get both the beginning and the end of the war all in one day. We will even get to drive down the famous RC1, where many lost their lives, although today it looks like nothing more than and ordinary highway."

Arnie nodded, his taste buds firing in all directions and heightening his other senses as he enjoyed the exotic experience of dining on such fare among the every day Cuivran people in the streets of their capital at a roadside cafe. It may be true that he could get Cuivran cuisine in Paritte, but he was sure that it couldn't compare to this, and the atmosphere added so much more to the taste.
At the mention of the itinerary for the day, he nodded trying to keep his thoughts in the present and not with his grandfather and his connection to the turbulent history of this nation.
"Oui. I am looking forward to it all, Alassane. My grandfather's unit, from what I know, was not here during the start of hostilities in Koumacoury, but they did fight to keep RC1 open, and they did fight off saboteurs attacking the Mansion during those chaotic last days here in the capital before the collapse of the colonial government and the evacuation of Gaulic forces. I have a few days, so keep in mind that we don't need to rush it all and pack it in all in one day." He took a sip of the palm wine and savored the sweetness. His thoughts briefly wandered to what Amelia was up to at that minute.

Meanwhile, Amelia luxuriated as a masseuse worked over her slightly tense muscles on a table, while her table was slightly propped up so that she had a view of the Cuivran shoreline and small pipers and cranes pecking at the surf. It was as idyllic and exotic as she had imagined it would be and she was so glad that she had let Arnaud talk her into flying here, even though she wasn't interested in the journey for the same reasons he was adamant about it. She moaned just a bit with pleasure. The masseuse was either used to something akin to a sexual sound from clients, or not opposed to it coming from a very voluptuous and beautiful Gaulic woman.

[Aurora Confederacy]

As the timeline is lagging behind with some newer RPs,
for a while you will see Martyne and Tiffany in two seperate RPs,
what is going on here is taking place before the voyage to
Australian republic

THE STREETS OF KONSTANZ, KERZ
As Martyne and Tiffany walk, they are surrounded by people browsing windows, shopping well into the evening. All sorts of major Astyrian and world clothing, electronics and gourmet companies have outlets in Konstanz. There are unique local shops intermixed in, as well. One traditional shop has cuckoo clocks, a specialty product from central Neu Engollon. Restaurants are also packed at this hour, with many folks in various states of formal to casual dress waiting out onto the sidewalk for an open table. Others who have already been seated are digging into a variety of both local Nikolian and Neu Engollian fare, as well as International delights. A few stragglers are popping out for one last cigarette before their order arrives at their table. Smoking is on the wane in both nations that share the metropolis, and it's been 8 years since smoking was banned inside all establishments, 15 years since the last cigarette, pipe or cigar was smoked inside a Konstanz dining establishment.

Street performers are on some of the corners: jugglers, buskers with guitars, accordions, violins, mandolins, flutes, saxophones and many other instruments, magicians and sometimes just ranting madmen that have attracted a crowd. Mental illness is on the rise in Neu Engollon, as evidenced by some of the nutty characters that Martyne and Tiffany have run into on their journey. Many are blaming rampant, unregulated capitalism, with companies being able to put many untested chemicals and ingredients, both infused in food products and in use during the harvesting process in produce and grains. BDI, the major national conglomerate that owns several food production subsidiaries, has made headlines lately as they move to phase out such identified harmful chemicals. It is a belated move to improve their image, but every little bit helps.

Walking the streets, Martyne and Tiffany do have a look at the various stores though jugglers don't particularly interest them however street music does though Tiffany also goes into a store and purchases a pair of decorative walking sticks. being a double amputee thanks to a crash in a tunnel she sometimes needs them, especially when the batteries in her prosthetic legs go down and so they then hang and swing under their own weight rather than using electronics to adjust the swing return.

Marty purchases a paper on her travels and so has a look at the goings on before turning to Tiffany
"wow, all the crap they are putting in things here, holy crap" she says
"yeah and that probably explains all the whacko's we have come across, now you know why Auroran farms are as organic as possible, no PGEs, no GMs and besides, food tastes better au naturelle" replies Tiffany as she walks alongside Marty, "can we really trust the food here?" she asks
"or..." says Marty, "....more importantly, can we trust the BEER", then something catches Martyne's eye, "grass skirt or hippy skirt Tiff?"
"short tie die hippy i think Marty" says Tiff, "though these biker style ones are hard wearing and being loose are comfy and easier to pull over the legs, try doing that with skinny jeans on, speaking about my legs, that guy who squished my car gets his licence back this year"

After a while, Martyne and Tiffany who is taking things easy and now, partly for effect and partly because of a little bit of discomfort, is using her two decorative walking sticks, walk down towards the lake where Marty then scans for a table close to the shoreline and with good access to the water.
"ya think we can swim in it?" asks Marty
this brings a swift reply from Tiffany "you can if you want but not sure if the water is as clean as Lake H back home" for Tiffany has no intention of swimming in the lake , partly because her legs are not designed for full immersion in water, and 2 she doesn't fancy some hoodlum stealing them, though here they are probably not quite so surrounded by people of what could be described as "less than full sanity".
_{only time will tell.....}

[Nikolia]

Alexandrovo
As Tanja introduced herself, Adina pulled out her wallet and then a bank card before asking,
"Have you got a twin room please?" she says whilst Trisha picks up some litrature off the counter and begins to read the English section of it as she is interested in what is available to do in the town.
After asking for the room, Adina turns to Trisha, "chances are its gonna be upstairs" she says.
Trisha taps her left leg "that could be interesting though they do have a climbing mode on them though you will have to walk slowly for me, though if they stick me upstairs, they put me upstairs"
Turning to Tanja, Adina asks "Take plastic?" waving her bank card "or do you take cash only?" she then turns to Trisha, "tonight we will get some rest in, then tomorrow take a walk down to the beach I think"

Aleksandrovo, the hotel

It didn't take too long for Tanja to find the requested room type for the two ladies that just walked in minutes ago. As she was scrolling down the list of the rooms in her computer, a room popped out in the list that was just perfect.

"Ladies, i've found one room for you two. The room is 5 (7.5 NS$)Dukats per person I would need your passports please..." She paused for a moment, then continued "You can pay with most of the cards and as well with cash, we accept Dukats and Dollars"

Aleksandrovo, behind the hotel, a bit later

The streets of Aleksandrovo were now crowded as tourists crawled out of their hotel rooms in need of some world famous Nikolian nightlife fun. The cars were passing by at the speed limit as between them was a regular traffic police patrol car. The patrol car is very common as there are a lot of traffic violations in the area, especially driving in intoxicated state and improper parking. Since the Nikolian traffic tickets are known in the region to be hefty, most of the drivers are careful when the police is around. It appears that one truck was not, or, considering that it is from Aurora Confederacy, didn't know the rules. As Mikułasz, a junior officer that recently moved to Aleksandrovo from Legnica spotted the improperly parked truck, he immediately notified his colleague Miloš, which was driving their silver Audi A6 with recognisable traffic police livery. They pulled over in front of the truck with their warning lights on. Mikułasz then got out of the vehicle in order to examine the truck, while Miloš stayed inside in order to run the registration plates through the on-board computer which was linked to a database which was shared with their colleagues in Aurora Confederacy, as both of the nations have shared their vehicle databases as a sign of cooperation between the two police departments.
A quick search revealed that the vehicle is properly registered and clean. Miloš therefore took his radio mic in order to inform his colleague.

Mikułasz, in the mean time approached the truck with his flashlight in one hand, and a booklet for a ticket in his other hand. He walked a circle around the truck in order to briefly inspect it, then finally got back in front of it to write a ticket. As he was writing the ticket, he was interrupted by his colleague who informed him about the regularity of the vehicle. He replied:
"Roger that, everything seems fine, i'm writing a ticket for improper parking, over"
He then continued and after he was done, he ripped off a ticket from a booklet then finally placed it on a windshield of the vehicle. As he did that, he returned to his patrol car in order to continue the patrol.

[Aurora Confederacy]

The following morning

After paying for a hotel room and spending the night in a hotel bed rather than a truck bed, this is because of worker rules as they have spent the last 6 days on the road running hard but legally, and as comfortable as the bed is in the Valiant F16h a hotel bed always makes a nice change. Waking up at around 8 Trish opens the curtain and sees a horrific sight..

The PARKING PENALTY CHARGE notice, to which she turns to Adana, "babe, We've been ticketed" she says.

Adina opens her eyes, "BOLLOCKS!" she says as she gets up, putting her trainers on before going down stairs to deal with the ticket swinging her key ring in her hand as she heads to the ddoor, though this leaves Trisha to make a couple of thermos flasks worth of tea. Despite Trisha having prosthetic legs she does not have a blue badge, however there are times when a warden has seen them and cancelled tickets, this one however is not one of those times as Adina takes the ticket from behind the wiper blade uttering a train of swear words, of which at least six begin with "f" and have no more than 4 letter, mostly in English though not all!
Adina takes the ticket out of its envelope and studies it carefully before climbing inside the cab to pick up the phone and call the number on the back of the ticket whilst pulling out her debit card to pay for it.

[Aurora Confederacy]

South Sands,
Morning

After waking up alongside her partner, Sophie, once dressed heads out to the town, her left arm now fixed by the technical support team of the company that made it. It's a short walk to the labs which are close to the hospita, as expected a receptionist is aware of her pending arrivalthanks to smart phone booking.

"miss Marsden, I Presume?" asks the receptionist,

"none other, is the doc ready?" asks Sophie

The receptionist checks the computer and makes a call on the internal phone system before looking over to Sophie,
"He'll see you now" she says as a member as man in a white. lab coat walks in.

His voice is clear calm and reassuring when he calls her name and so Sophie stands up and follows the man into a side room which has a couple of photos of people using high the tech prosthetic limbs on the walls and two very plastic palm trees in the corner in what is probably a synthetic soil analog.

He goes on to explain what was wrong with her arm before helping mount it on her stump, with the arm fitted to the stump, Sophie goes through a full cycle of motion, it's sensors picking up neural impulses through electrodes inside it's cup, these are then translated into movements as desired bythe wearer, in this case Sophie.

"Seems to be working fine now, much smoother than before" she says before signing some documents and leaving the building wearing a black catsuit and sporting her newly repaired bionic arm

[Aurora Confederacy]

Aleksandrovo,
Nikolia

A 75 dukat ticket was something that Adina had not expected however with a debit card she makes the payment, navigating through the maze of menus before tapping in the 16 digit serial number of the card, expirary date, issue number and the 3 digit check number on the back of the card, a task that took aroun 15 minutes, time enough for Adina to calm down after paying the ticket whilst Trisha sorts out the checking out.

Eventually Trisha came out of the hotel with a bag in one hand whilst another bag is slung over her shoulder as she makes her way across the back street to the waiting truck where she was then spotted by Adina who openned the door and took one of the bags off Trisha, then the other bag, thereby allowing Trisha to climb into the cab through the passenger door.
"we gonna move it then?" asks Trisha, "if so where you gonna park it?"

"probably at the transit site then nip into town, I dont think there's any illegals in Nikolia, however I will have a look at the trailer first then if there are folk in there they'll be turfed out, besides who'd want to go to the confederacy, it will be a pig awful place in the northern part in the winter" jokes Adina as she turns the key of the Valiant F16H bringing its 16 litre staight 6 into life before putting her card into the tachograph whilst the engine warms up over the coming 15 minutes.

Trisha looks carefully on the internet for a load bound to the Aurora Confederacy, either as a re load of the box on the back or a swap of the box though Adina would preffer that the box is simply re loaded and so passes that view and request to Trisha who continues to check a website as Adina climbs down to do a walk round check to make sure her truck is safe to operate, yes the good old pre-shift-inspection.

[Zitru]

United States of Zitru
Destiny Airlines flight 198 — en route to Ahckman
POV: Lewis Gïll

Lewis could never quite get used to long journeys, even if he did travel all over the country and the region as a professional footballer, but it just wasn’t for him. He had been attempting to get some sleep for what seemed to be hours with no avail, but was actually just 10 minutes which had gone by very slowly. “I swear the time goes slower when you’re bored,” he thought out loud. The rest of the team, it appeared, were sound asleep and had been since the flight took off from Raedburg.

---

United States of Zitru
Ahckman International Airport — Ahckman, Tweakavant
POV: Lewis Gïll

The impact of the Airbus A330 hitting the ground paired with the screeching of its tires as it landed, plus the tropical storm raging on outside was quick to alert Lewis and awake him. He’d slept on a flight—actually slept—for the first time in God knows how many years. He then realized that the thought of being thirty thousand feet up in the air with nothing to do had probably bored him enough that he had fallen asleep, and he kicked himself for not thinking of that before. A lot of his teammates were also just waking up from a short sleep, stretching and yawning, as the Raedburg squad piled off of their private Destiny Airlines plane and into Ahckman International Airport.

The walkway lead them from the plane into the arrivals terminal of the airport, where they were greeted by an incredible group of fans waving shirts and footballs and scarves, looking for the players to sign them. Lewis borrowed a marker from one of the supporters in the crowd and began to autograph a few items as the others did the same. He smiled at them and talked with a few, but today really wasn’t the day for all this fuss. That was an added bonus of being a footballer and winning one of the biggest continental tournaments in the world — the fans crowding around as you walk off a plane, tired and agitated and just looking to get some relaxation. Another one was that you had more training and another tournament to play before the new season started.

The International Football Championship wasn’t the biggest competition, and it certainly wasn’t one a team like Raedburg really had to worry about, but Redfield ensured that the squad trained hard before every match. Five other clubs played in the tournament along with Raedburg — Aligasia’s Edena Warriors, Bobania’s Bob Argyle, Gerelia’s Derzenburg, Veneco’s Croftfoot Rovers and Flynnerane’s Bergarek United, a team invited for the 2015 edition. For the first time since the competition was established, a country other than Aligasia or Bobania was selected as host. Zitru won the bidding process and named three stadiums within close proximity to each other as the tournament’s venues. This meant that the Raedburg team didn’t have to travel far for the tournament, but they still had to train as much as normal.

The team boarded the huge club coach waiting outside the airport, which was complete with modern furnishings including heated leather seats, televisions, USB ports and a fridge for the long journeys to away games in the National Soccer League, and its livery was designed with the F.C. Raedburg crest and some current players and legends. A hotel, specifically the Hyton at Shore Boulevard, was 25 miles down the Interstate 2 from Ahckman International Airport, so there wouldn’t be much need for the amenities on the bus, and talk quickly went from the glory of the recent Regional Cup to the International Football Championship.

“I hate this tournament,” Dako Zienen, the first choice goalkeeper, said. “I never have anything to do during the games because there are almost no shots on our goal.”
Jaden Araadel, one of the hottest young Zitran footballers and an attacking midfielder, said, “There’s always Bergarek United, they’ll be in the tournament this year. And they’re a URFA club now, so surely they must be decent.”
“Derzenburg and Croftfoot Rovers are URFA clubs, and look at them,” added winger Ricardo Rubin, to which the coach erupted with laughter. “Maybe this time they’ll give us a shock,” added Lewis Gill, jokingly. FC Derzenburg and Croftfoot Rovers F.C. both considered Raedburg a rival (although the same can’t be said vice versa), but neither team had ever got very far in the Champions League in the past 30 years, which was a talking point of commentators when the Dragons met either of the two teams.
“Come on now boys, you must never underestimate your opponent,” club captain Dirk Kais said, and he sounded very stern.
“They’re only joking, Dirk. The games are always good fun against those two teams, especially from a manager’s point of view,” said Dako Redfield.

Time went on quickly as the players engaged in conversations, and the coach pulled up outside the Hyton hotel at 1 o’clock. Exiting the bus and grabbing what was theirs from the luggage compartment, each player made his way into the hotel to rest before training ahead of the opening match in the International Football Championship.

[Aurora Confederacy]

Zoe Mariner and Michaela Michaelska
Ackhman marina,
Zitru

Their small 34' yacht, "Luna Mysteria" now safely tied to the quayside, Zoe and Michaela Michaela, more often known as Mickymick or Micky for short, now start to take a look around the harbour for a whilst as they navigate the maze of pontoons and walkways that would eventually lead them to the commissioners office in ordering officially announce their entry into Zitru, a task in the Aurora Confederacy that must be done As SOON AS POSSIBLE according to Aurora law and so their plan here in Ackhman is no different.

Their plan is quite simple, stock up the Mystie, yes even the boat has a pet name! However Zitru and it's customs office stands in the way though with nothing to declare it should be a simple task or so they think however with an inhailer for a mild and common respiratory condition Michaela may have to declare it.

[Aurora Confederacy]

Meanwhile
In Neu Engollon...

Scorpio and Joanne along with Ravage the dog are now back on the move heading north again, below them the air cooled V12 purring like a contented kitten as the truck under the careful stewardship of Scorpio makes progress down the valley road. Joanne, with feet on the dashboard and seat reclined part way is relatively relaxed and Ravage, well she is suffering a crisis of species identity for she for she is sitting on the dash in the windscreen on a newspaper in a very feline manner, not bad given she is very much a white friese terrier so very much Canine!

On the stereo of Scorpio's Kvasir is a techno and dance cd that was purchased at a service centre store a couple of months ago, the reasoning for this is pretty simple, they don't understand Frandt enough to understand the radio and it is good practice as pacy music and helps while away the miles of twisty single carriageway roads. For Scorpio the road is giving plenty of opportunities to play musical gears with the sleeve valve engine, which always brings a smile to Scorpio's face especially when the engine burbles and rumbles on down shifts.

"ya know Scorpio, I think we should do this run more often if we can" comments Joanne, taking in the alpine scenery,

"yeah but the ferry, glad we weren't paying for it, three days on the boat is something I am not looking forward to as it is 3 days of sheer boredom again though what next, perhaps a run to Dungey?" replies Scorpio

"yeah but not down here, perhaps the other part next to the southern border, that seems a good bet eh Scorpie?"

"perhaps, though i would need to get in contact with the local T.O. to see what requirements are needed there and their rules for dogs, or in this case the Cog!" says Scorpio, pointing to Ravage and how she has started to settle on the dashboard.

"shouldn't be too difficult" says Joanne before commenting "oh coffee time I think!"

Ravage, at the mention of coffee, her ears raise up and suddenly she leaps down onto the engine hump from the dashboard perch that she had then makes her way to the base of the seat back of Joanne's seat, *BARRK* or in her case its more of a high pitched yap!

"she's an addict I swear!" jokes Scorpio, "and yeah cracking idea so get kettle on girl! I'll ease up whilst you move around in the cabin"

At that, Joannne climbs onto the engine tunnel from her seat to reach down the bottle of water out of the locker and the kettle, a small 12v unit before reaching down the milk powder and coffee and proceeding to make the drink after reaching for two cups of which both are heated and insulated. "oh have we got a couple of gopro's?" asks Joanne as she retakes her seat

"eh, why?" asks Scorpio

"this stunning scenery, be great to film and stick on myface" says Joanne as she puts some powdered milk into Scorpio's cup as Ravage now tries to lick the teaspoon but gets a tap across her nose instead "NO Ravage, you Can't have this!"

A few moments later the kettle is full and boiling so Joanne soon has the drinks ready "there ya go Scorpie" she says, placing the cup in the cup holder before putting her own drink into a cup holder

"Thanks love" says Scorpio, as Ravage looks across at Scorpio, eyes wide open and tail sofly wagging, her head moving between looking at the cup then at Scorpio "dog, ya got NO chance, my drink" and just to insult Ravage, Scorpio takes hold of the cup and begins to sip the contents out of the hole at the top in the cap, "aahhhhhh"

[Zitru]

-snip-

United States of Zitru
Bradenton Bay Marina, Ahckman

A storm had started to brew as Zoe and Michaela tied up the Luna Mysteria and made their way to the marina building, where the customs office was located, and the girls were lucky enough to escape the rain before it started. They followed the bilingual signs written in Zitran and English to the customs and border protection unit where they were asked to fill out a declaration form, on which Michaela was careful to declare her inhaler, before their luggage and passports were checked and they passed through a metal detector. Following the bag check, Zoe and Michaela were briefly interviewed by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security officer who questioned the pair, and then were free to leave the marina and explore Zitru as they wished. Upon leaving the building, a police officer kindly welcomed the Aurora Confederacy visitors to the United States of Zitru.

[Aurora Confederacy]

ooc for some reason my mobile phone I posted the events of Zoe and Micky on thought I had miss spelt Lunar when I typed LUNA. bloody predictive text!

---

United States of Zitru
Bradenton Bay Marina, Ahckman

A storm had started to brew as Zoe and Michaela tied up the Lunar Mysteria and made their way to the marina building, where the customs office was located, and the girls were lucky enough to escape the rain before it started. They followed the bilingual signs written in Zitran and English to the customs and border protection unit where they were asked to fill out a declaration form, on which Michaela was careful to declare her inhaler, before their luggage and passports were checked and they passed through a metal detector. Following the bag check, Zoe and Michaela were briefly interviewed by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security officer who questioned the pair, and then were free to leave the marina and explore Zitru as they wished. Upon leaving the building, a police officer kindly welcomed the Aurora Confederacy visitors to the United States of Zitru.

[/quote]

Seeing the rain come lashing down whilst filling out the declarations, Micky looked at Zoe, "Thank heavens we made it when we did, that looks nasty" she says whilst filling in the form which probably resembled this form. Zoe smiles, "aye, you could say though at least we closed the hatch to the mystie so she'll be dry. I think we need some gas as well, propane is running low for the stove". With both Zoe and Michaela being of sound body and mind, though to take a journey such as the one they have just done so, that could in some minds be questionable when there are so many luxury cruise ships that ply the waters and they turned up, not in or on a cruise ship but on a boat that is probably smaller than one of the life boats of one of those said cruise ships, however they were now legally inside the United States of Zitru though won't be staying in a hotel, instead have put their residence down on the form as

Sailing Yacht Luna Mysteria
Bradenton Bay Marina, 
Ahckman

As a gesture of good will and friendliness, for neither Zoe, nor Micky are in the nation to cause trouble just like 99% of tourists Zoe offers a hand shake to the border guard before leaving though she doesn't get too far, seeing the rain lashing down outside and so hangs off for a bit whilst the storm front blows itself through before leaving the building to head into town.
"Anywhere you want to go kid?" asks Zoe, kid being the ideal name as she is significantly older than Michaela her close friend.
"a good eaterie would be a start, probably a cinema or perhaps show" says Micky as she walks alongside Zoe, who has a habit of stopping to window shop for possible souviners.
Micky isn't much of a shop-a-holic, preffering to go in, get what she wants and leave before the crowds descend though Zoe on the other hand like to collect things to fill her house up when she gets back, Zoe however does get a T-shirt which right across the chest has the Zitru flag, and for Micky a black T-shirt with a skull and cross bones on it as well as a base ball cap with two 6" fluffy rabbit ears fitted to it, purely to embarrass Micky!

[North Banrodesia]

(OOC: i don't know the names of many cities, airports, etc in Astyria, so ill pretty much be making them up unless visiting somewhere already seen in the RP or someone suggests otherwise. hope thats alright)


Flight IJ833, above Western Blackhelm Confederacy

Bing Bong!

"Good afternoon passengers, this is your captain speaking. If you could just give me a few minutes of your time."

Long woke from sleep, head against the window. The flight from Cobregab had been a long one, and the budget flight was far from world-leading in terms of comfort; leg room was minimal, in-flight entertainment lacking and hot meals sub-par. Regardless, Long was glad that he had managed to sleep off the final 3 or 4 hours of the flight as the plane drifted high above the oceans. Now, from the window, great tropical rainforests sprawled below; winding roads and highways carved through the dense jungle, and villages and towns slotted perfectly into clearings in the canopy. In the distance, brown peaks rose above the humidity of the forest floor below.

"We are approaching West Blackhelm International now, and expect to be touching down in about 10 to 20 minutes. The seatbelt sign will flash on soon, so I would like to remind all passengers to return to their seats so we can land safely."

The queue of passengers by the toilet rapidly dispersed, and a young woman pacing the aisle between seats shuffled back to her seat. A low beep rung out, and a glowing image of a seatbelt switched on above each seat. The sound of clicks filled the air as buckles were fastened; Long took a moment to snap the belt into place before returning to the window, gazing out at this far away and new land. The excitement and disbelief had already hit him; Long took a moment to reflect on how far away he was from home, and another to think about all that lay in store in this land of rolling jungles and bustling cities, before being interrupted by the captain.

"It's.. uh... 5:21 PM local time in Blackhelm, so please ensure that your timepieces are properly adjusted. The temperature at the airport is 27 celsius. Prepare for landing."

15 minutes passed, and the plane screeched across the runway. The first leg of the journey was complete.

West Blackhelm International Airport

Queues, luggage, immigration; Long was chewed up by the tedium of the airport before being spat out onto the arrivals concourse, and what a sight it was. Spacious and pristine, the concourse was nothing less than a corridor of giants, its walls adorned with open shops and the polished floor littered with diverse crowds of people from all over the globe. Sharply dressed men and women darted in and out of the commercial hideaways, speaking into headphones. Families huddled around their luggage, consulting maps, leaflets or tickets whilst planning their next move. A young, dark skinned man perked up as he spotted something across the concourse, before running over and re-uniting with an old friend. Staggered for a moment by the wealth of activity, Long composed himself and headed for the yellow signs marked 'EXIT', having to slalom between people and bags to escape from the terminal.

A tall, glass wall served as a portal to the outside world; passengers were funnelled from the terminal through a human hallway of people holding named signs as they apprehensively glanced between arriving passengers, all of them seeming to meet Long's eyes once as they attempted to find friend, family or associate. Clutching the straps on his bag, Long kept his head down before being thrown out into the humid air of the Blackhelm confederacy.

A road ran past the glass-walled exit that Long had passed through; Taxis perched at the side of the road, ready to cart tourists around the city. Beyond the road, a tall concrete wall, and further still, an elevated railway that shuttled arrivals to and from major destinations nearby. Fumbling in his pocket, Long retrieved the notes he had written the night before regarding directions to his first - and only - hotel of the journey.
"Railway.... Shuttle line.... Jassar Minor station...." he mumbled, recalling the West Blackhelm rail website poorly translated into Banrodesian that he had browsed when sorting directions; To the railway it was. Long shoved the note into his back pocket, crossing the road of taxis and locating the railway access point; A green sign above a concrete stairway marked 'SHUTTLE LINE'. Up the stairs, along a graffiti'd bridge, another flight of stairs, past a busking violinist, and there was the ticket office, and the airport station.

A ticket eastbound to Jassar Minor and 19 NSD later, and Long was aboard the next train to his destination. Placing his bag overhead, Long rolled his shoulders and prepared for the journey ahead.

[Aurora Confederacy]

South Sands,
City Bazzar
Aurora Confederacy

After walking out of the clinic with a fully functioning electronic prosthetic arm whilst wearing a catsuit, Sophie had a few plans ahead to fulfill within her day and so headed down into town through South Sand's notoriously busy streets, pedestrians going about their business cluttering up the pavement whilst cars, busses and in some places TRAINS all jostle for space on the roads as the run into South Sands central station has the main line running through down town South Sands so frequent slow passes of trains in the city grid are not unknown though to the locals it is seen as a somewhat normal feature though many non-locals find the sight of a 10 car express train such as an ICX stopping at a set of traffic lights behind a taxi somewhat un nerving, especially if they are in said taxi

As Sophie walks down the pavement towards the Bazzar, the 09:45 inbound arrival to South Sands is duly threading through the city, a 12 car electric hauled passenger train with around 300 passengers on board slowly slinking its way through the traffic in the typical drizzle that South Sands is known for, as she does so a few passengers glance out the window of the catsuit wearing woman with the prosthtic arm though those that are are more than likely tourists and such as most in the AC don't really care what you wear, as long as you wear something. It takes around half an hour to make the way through the streets to the bazzar which is a large covered market with store holders selling pretty much anything from copied DVDs and CDs, (in some cases trying to pass them off as real) to tablewear to clothing as well as services such as hair cutting though Sophie with less hair on her head than a bald thing in bald town on a bald day really doesn't need a barbers after all she only has her eyebrows and has NO plans to shave them off!

She turns left and walks down an alley way that cuts across the bazzar to a small studio, inside it there can be heard the buzzing of ink being put under skin, there she stands for a few minutes until a man walks over, covered in various tattoos from head to toe and all in a carefully done fantasy theme that centers around a man riding a dragon whilst flying over a castle in a forest whilst another dragon with fire bursting out of a neckwound falls to earth back first off into the distance.
"heya sweet heart, what can I do ya fo?" he asks, eyeing Sophie up

"nothing serious, I'm just after some new jewellery to replace the stuff I have, particularly a new bar for the tongue that you did the other week" she says, browsing some stainless steel novelty jewellery "you see I am hoping to anchor it for a split some stage"

"well..." says the tattooed man, actually the husband of one of the tattooists who is currently plying her trade in one of the booths and responsible for the design on the side of Sophie's head, "...yes I think I can sort that out, I think with that you could do with going slightly wider though when it gets done it will be quite a deep split kid, are you okay with that?"

"yeah, why shouldn't I be?" asks Sophie as she picks up a sterile packet containing a short barbel "I'll have this one I think"

The assistant looks at the item "fifteen dinars please" he says

"plastic?" enquires Sophie, pulling out a bank card

"yeah, thats fine" and so he gestures for Sophie to follow him to the counter where some counter culture items such as collars, jewellery of all sizes and types, are on display, he pulls from behind the counter a small payment machine and taps a few buttons so it reads 15.00 then Sophie taps in her P.I.Number for the card and soon the item is hers to do as she pleases item of jewellery goes where it belongs, in her tongue replacing the one that is in there, however with a prosthetic arm it requires some assistance to remove the old jewellery as her metallic fingers can not however grip the bar to allow the balls to be removed easily though with professional help the jewellery is changed allowing Sophie to head on her way again. "See you in a couple of weeks then, yes?" she says as she leaves allowing the proprietor to go about the job of dealing with a stock order.

[North Banrodesia]

Jassar Minor Elevated Railway Station, Jassar district, West Blackhelm

"....Jassar Minor...."

Long woke to the announcement echoing throughout the carriage; through all the foreign words being spouted from the speakers Long managed to pick up 'Jassar Minor' - His stop. Facing the window, Long looked out of the dirt-flecked, scratched glass into an urban wall of apartments and offices, sporting billboards of attractive young men and women, ice-cold drinks and sun-drenched beaches. Despite the glitz and glamour of the billboards, some of the buildings that they concealed needed a lick of paint, to say the least.

The train slowed as it pulled into the station; Long stood, heaving his backpack on, and joining the queue of diverse passengers waiting to jump off the train. He kept his eyes to himself - he knew little of the people in Blackhelm, let alone the people in this area, and stories from his childhood reminded him that in some places around the world, making eye contact with the wrong stranger could mean your life.

Despite the nerves, Long kept his head down and hopped off the train as it ground to a halt in the grubby station. Descending concrete stairs with a sweaty palm on the handrail, he found himself on street level, where throngs of people shuffled up and down the pavements; sharply dressed businessfolk, groups of chattering teenagers, stony-faced seniors, and so forth. Shoving his hand into his pocket, Long retrieved his 'map'; "Head left to Serradiat Square, then right up Charter street. Hotel is down alley ~100 metres down Charter."

Looking left, Long could see a statue 300 metres or so down the busy road. Serradiat square, presumably. Returning to his default state of head down, feet moving, Long headed left, assuming a brisk pace and doing his best to avoid colliding with one of the hundreds of pedestrians snaking along the pavement. Making it to the square in good time, Long darted across the road and up Charter street; 100 metres, and a shadowed alleyway broke away from the road, with two highrise apartments looming on each side. Peering down the alley, he cautiously proceeded. A leathery skinned man in an apron and chef hat stood by an open door, cigarette in hand. Long avoided meeting his gaze but could tell that the man watched him every step that Long took past him. Taking a moment to look up, Long was greeted by a neon sign that read "DEFFERD AMMIUS". Checking his pocketed notes, he confirmed that this was the hotel he was searching for; and what a sorry state it was in. The five floors of building that stood before him were covered with a sickly green paint. Grey patches dotted the building where the paint had peeled and fell, and Long counted four window that had been boarded up. Budget, thought Long, pushing open the grimy glass doors to the hotel.

The lobby was pleasantly air-conditioned, although the burgundy carpet was somewhat dirty and crunched underfoot. A young woman sat behind a surprisingly well kept desk; a small fan blew from beside a computer, throwing strands of the woman's hair across her face as she scribbled on a form. Quickly having a second take of the lobby, Long approached the desk, placing a palm on the surface. The woman looked up from her paperwork and smiled broadly, before spouting something in the native language.

"Uh.... English?" replied Long
"Ah, I am sorry. Most foreign tourists spend more time in other hotels, as you can imagine. Or better still, they head to Paradise city."
"I'm running on a bit of a budget, and besides, I won't be staying long. The names Long.... Long Caraffet? I booked a month or two back."
"One moment please." The woman pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes before turning to the computer, tapping away on the loud, clunky circa 2000 keyboard. "We do have a Mr. Caraffet. From Banrodesia, eh? I thought that place was a no-go area?"
"It was. It's safe now, mostly. We got the right to vote, and some Aaron Saldaffe guy is running the show now."
"Of course, of course! I think I saw the news broadcast about it. Good to hear!"
"Eh, well. I never got much involved in the protests, just kept my head down and stayed out of trouble. I mean, I'm glad it's safer now, and that we have more freedoms, but I'm no die hard patriot. I'd much rather be out here, exploring the world."
"Perfectly understandable, sir, but if you'll excuse me, I must get to work." She reached under her desk and brought up a keyring marked '21'. "You're in room 21, sir. Third floor."
"Of course.... of course." Long grabbed the key, slotting it around his index finger. "Thanks."
"Have a nice stay, sir!"

More stairs, up to the third floor; the elevator was out of order and didn't seem to be anywhere near being repaired. Room 21 itself was tucked away down the end of the third floor corridor; the door was covered with the same sickly green paint that seemed to adorn every surface of the hotel. Unlocking the door, Long chucked his backpack down on the floor, and surveyed the room. A well-kept double bed, a simple desk, en-suite bathroom and shower, and a window with a southwards view over the city. He almost collapsed on the bed, fumbling to remove his boots, before falling back and letting sleep embrace him.

[Aurora Confederacy]

Aleksandrovo
Nikolia

Once the pre shift is carried out and the engine running Adina adjusts the seat again after having to reposition it in order to put items behind the seat of the Valiant whilst she waits for the air to build on the truck.

"Trisha, before we go anywhere, I think one last item to be done, get the lights added I think, what ya figure?" asks Adina, filling out a check sheet

"Nah, we have enough lights on this thing as it is, besides I think it would be better to fit them in the AC when we get back to Heysham" replies Trisha as she puts her belt on.

"Okay, well lets get a move to somewhere we're not gonna get another bloody PCN for parking somewhere where we shouldn't have. I cant say that I saw any signs saying no parking and folk could get past, oh well" though in Adina's voice, there was a hint of annoyance in her tone, for she is still slightly miffed at getting a ticket as she slips the truck into first and begins to move forwards, once moving Adina's belt also goes on as the truck rolls to a stop at the junction of the street that they are on. Adina looks towards Trisha, "ya got anything yet love?" she says, flicking a turn signal on before easing out into traffic.

Getting onto the highway that takes them down to the sea front Adina settles down a little bit more as she begins to get away from the hotel, and filtering through Alexandrovo's heavy rush hour traffic in a city that similar to that of Lake Hai'lu'kai and makes Heysham look like a village at around a million inhabitants, Their home town of Heysham is somewhat smaller, in fact the port at 2000 workers employs 70% of the towns folk who are of employable age and Adina is one of a few that isn't employed there.

"Trish, ya know what would really piss me off..?" asks Adina,

"no, go on" remarks Trisha

"Having to dead head all the way back, I do hope there is something bound for the AC, that Akexsandrovo load go some cash but not a great deal. give the port a check i think" says Adina, stirring the elephant's foot of a gearstick as she moves between cogs in the gearbox though the speed at the rush hour is a slow one with the needle hardly moving however slowly they crawl towards the harbour again....

[Blackhelm Confederacy]

Jassar Minor Elevated Railway Station, Jassar district, Ravetta, Ravetta Province

Long had landed into the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Ravetta, the capital city of the province which bears its name. A bit further south of here is the provinces largest city, Capula, and even further south still were the cities of Holy Light and Crescent Bay. For a brief, very brief period after the collapse of the Empire of Exponent, these had all been part of the Republic of Ravetta, and Holy Light was its principle sea-port, but a rapid and near bloodless military campaign by the Blackhelm Confederacy in 2001 brought Ravetta back into the dominion of the government based out of Paradise City. The war did little to affect the coming and going of the people here, however, and the city remained one of the most architecturally attractive in all of Hesperidesia, and arguably all of Astyria.

The ornate, 19th century buildings would have looked more at home in Vienna than in the midst of this hot jungle, but walking down the streets of the city one might forget where they were for a moment had it not been for the humidity and the palm trees than lined the streets and decorated the fronts of nearly every building. The city's primary train station, one which made use of one of the relatively rare civilian passenger lines in the nation, was only a few short blocks from the building Long currently was laying in. From this point, the tourist could access anywhere else in the nation he wished, from the modern and urban capital to the poverty stricken city of Redemption to the lush, albeit dangerous, jungles of the Backlands to the pristine beaches that lined the nation. There were even pyramids and plenty of ancient history to be found in Egypttiansstan, if that was what the lone adventurer should be after.

Of course, the city of Ravetta itself had much to offer the traveler as well. A bustling nightlife with plenty of top notch bars, clubs, and restaurants could be found all around him, as could a number of fantastic coffee shops and some of the nations very best restaurants. A jungle tour could even be arranged for in the lobby, and a tour guide would be able to pick him up for both private or public tours, whichever Long desired. And on top of all of this, there were ruins all about the jungles to find, for those who might dream of something different than an ordinary animal sightseeing event. Ravetta offered much for a single young man to enjoy, it was up to him to choose his path.

[Aurora Confederacy]

Adina Carlyle & Trisha Yarlet
On the way to Aleksandrovo docks

As Adina's 600hp Valiant F16H is slowly carressed through the traffic, Adina puts a DVD into the entertainment system, though she can't see the screen for that can only be seen by Trisha on the passenger side of the cab thanks to its bi-matrixial design. The video is from a tail mounted camera on a glider set to relaxing music, and sets the tone for the trip back to the docks just as the QMS system comes into life.

MSG TO USER  ** ***** **** *** 453
 CONTAINER - ATLU 657547 [8] - ARRIVAL 12:43 - MV AUGUSTINA - ALEKSANDROVO
ONWARD DESTINATION - BARENTSBURG - 
CONTENTS - GENERATOR PARTS
CUSTOMER -  SOUTH SANDS NUCLEAR
ADR STATUS - NO

[CLICK_HERE] TO ACCEPT LOAD

"Whats that come through?" asks Adina
Trisha glances down and recalls the message, "genny parts for South Sands Nuclear in The Burg, looks like its stuff for the new power plant they're building"
"hazmat? ADR Trish??"
"Nope, wanna go for it Aidie?"
"yeah, click accept, that reserves the load for us. We may have to wait a bit and its to a different part of the port, first task is to drop off this box, scale then pick up the waiting box when the ship arrives"

leaning over, Trisha presses the click here button and the load is reserved, so at least they will get a fare paying load back to the Aurora Confederacy which will take them to the east coast then from there perhaps another container to somewhere, Danglish Empre, Vizion, Domestic who knows where. With the load accepted, Trisha looks across towards Adina then reaches for a note pad on the centre of the dasboard along with a pen and jots down the notes then taps a few buttons on the keyboard to bring up a map of the best route as well as the sailing times of ferries out of Borca "we got a couple of sailings to choose from, Auroran Oceanic offer a ferry on a friday night check in which is a midnight departure saturday morning, checkin closes at twenty two hundred for the departure. Will we make it?" asks Trisha.

Adina following behind a car and in a realm of concentration glances in her mirrors as she replies "yeah, we should make it, it'll give us a day in Borca to look around, book it"

And with a click of a button the ferry is booked as Adina eases the truck onto the access road and upto the security gate where at which she stops at the barrier and winds the window down to speak to the port official.
"Heya, We have a reefer box to drop off and are picking up a box off the twelve forty three arrival. BIC is A T L U Six Five Seven Five Four Seven Check digit Eight, going on to South Sands. Here's our Portage Passes " says Adina, putting the brakes on and the truck into neutral before handing to ID badges over to be examined.

[Aurora Confederacy]

Neu Engollon

Scorpio's route towards Nikolia and then home is set to run through some alpine valleys, as such the truck thunders through some tunnels, entering one tunnel Scorpio reaches to the airhorn lead and gives it a pull letting the truck's train horns sound as the truck enters, as she did so, the sound reverberated off the tunnel walls and ceiling, Ravage on the bunk just opened an eye, twitches an ear then closes here eye again before stretching out her legs, seemingly not bothered by the blast of the air horns.

"These tunnels, got to admit are a work of art, different to the ones we have back home but art all the same" mentioned Joanne as Scorpio keeps a hand on the controls as she reaches for the coffee with the other, "some of the one's back home are just blasted out of the rock like the one that winds its way into the Burg"

"yeah, that's a bastard of a tunnel, eighty kilometer per hour limit and it takes about half an hour to get through it as it snakes its way through the mountain" remarks Joanne, "however, the Terra Link Tunnels are a genius up there"

Scorpio, now with a cup of coffee in her hand takes a sip before replying "yeah except when a wagon catches light which happens from time to time". As a truck comes the other way Scorpio gives a flash of the headlights in respect and acknowlegement of the oncoming driver in a typically Neu Engollon truck. Eventually their mountain valley road comes to an end and the wide expanse of the Federal Autobahn FR2 lay below them so as Scorpio rolled up to the line on the rotary junction, it was a quick glance then a hefty foot to get the 990 HP Kvasir singing again as Scorpio accellerated hard to gain speed on the ramp "in an hour you wanna take over? Im due for my four and a half shortly" asks Scorpio as the truck charged down the ramp billowing smoke from its exhausts as the engine was seriously working. The smoke wasn't black but more of a hint of blue due to the exhaust gasses having a hint of oil in them from the sleeve valves for the engine has done well over a million kilometers and was built in 2004 and has been worked hard however with 990hp on tap, she may be old but she can certainly shift as at least 800 of them are still lurking in there!

Next stop for Joanne and Scorpio may well be the Kerz again....

[Aurora Confederacy]

Aleksandrovo container port

It may seem an odd place to pick up a load going to the Aurora Confederacy especially as both Nikolia and the Aurora Confederacy have sea ports, yet the customer has specified that the container containing generator parts for a nuclear power plant that is under construction to be shipped by road with a ferry crossing, presumably because trundling at 80km/h by road is probably faster than going by sea, even though there is a 3 day crossing to get to the confederacy from Borca, however the first task was to offload the refrigerated box off the skeletal trailer so Adina parked her truck in an area where a container picker can come and offload the box. Parking the truck up it was Trisha who climbed down to the hard standing and walked around, unlocking each twist lock as she walked around the truck. Unlocking the twist locks allowed the picker to come in and lift off the box to reveal an empty skeletal trailer and from there, once Trisha was back inside, Adina made her way around the port following the access routes to the outbound flow road to get to the area where the loaded containers can be found.

As Adina made her way, following local trucks picking up other containers Trisha used a laptop to set and plot the gps route, yes the satnav system is linked to a laptop allowing for near constant map updates and traffic advisory information to be sent directly to the small satnav that is suckered to the windshield, she also used it to confirm the ferry booking as well. "well thats confirmed. now where's our bloody box?" asks Trisha calmly as she eyes up the stacks of red boxes, rows and rows of red oxide coloured boxes, each one 2.5m wide, 2.5m high 12m long and completely identical making for some identifying a container a complete nightmare of a job though there is some logic to how they are stored, isn't there???.

Adina after a slow 10 minute drive from one zone to another brings the truck to a stop and climbs down to prepare to recieve the container, with Trisha following suit moments later as she grabs a high viz jacket and waits, though she figures she won't be waiting too long before a red, some would say "regulation sized" shipping container is loaded onto the trailer and their trip home via Barentsburg can begin and this is a relatively urgent load.

[Aurora Confederacy]

The Kerz
On the shores
of the lake

It's clear waters combined with warm temperatures of summer makes for an inviting sight for Martyne who with her partner, Tiffany Reed, as such they walk onto the beachfront of the lake where Tiffany lays claim to a lounger before slipping both arms around Martyne who then slowly sinks into a romantic kiss with her wife. the kiss lasts for a few seconds before Martyne tips her weight forwards causing Tiffany to slip Backwards onto the lounger

Falling backwards Tiffany gives out a squeal as she lands on.the lounger before bursting into laughter whilst Martyne strips down to the bikini she wears below her combats and bomber jacket and heads into the lake to take a swim in.the lakes clean water, as she goes into deeper water, though not too deep but deep enough to swim comfortably. As Martyne swims Tiffany relaxes and takes off her two prosthetic limbs and even manages to take a few photos of her bald wife enjoying herself in the cool waters of Lake Constanz

[Nikolia]

Aleksandrovo container port

It may seem an odd place to pick up a load going to the Aurora Confederacy especially as both Nikolia and the Aurora Confederacy have sea ports, yet the customer has specified that the container containing generator parts for a nuclear power plant that is under construction to be shipped by road with a ferry crossing, presumably because trundling at 80km/h by road is probably faster than going by sea, even though there is a 3 day crossing to get to the confederacy from Borca, however the first task was to offload the refrigerated box off the skeletal trailer so Adina parked her truck in an area where a container picker can come and offload the box. Parking the truck up it was Trisha who climbed down to the hard standing and walked around, unlocking each twist lock as she walked around the truck. Unlocking the twist locks allowed the picker to come in and lift off the box to reveal an empty skeletal trailer and from there, once Trisha was back inside, Adina made her way around the port following the access routes to the outbound flow road to get to the area where the loaded containers can be found.

As Adina made her way, following local trucks picking up other containers Trisha used a laptop to set and plot the gps route, yes the satnav system is linked to a laptop allowing for near constant map updates and traffic advisory information to be sent directly to the small satnav that is suckered to the windshield, she also used it to confirm the ferry booking as well. "well thats confirmed. now where's our bloody box?" asks Trisha calmly as she eyes up the stacks of red boxes, rows and rows of red oxide coloured boxes, each one 2.5m wide, 2.5m high 12m long and completely identical making for some identifying a container a complete nightmare of a job though there is some logic to how they are stored, isn't there???.

Adina after a slow 10 minute drive from one zone to another brings the truck to a stop and climbs down to prepare to recieve the container, with Trisha following suit moments later as she grabs a high viz jacket and waits, though she figures she won't be waiting too long before a red, some would say "regulation sized" shipping container is loaded onto the trailer and their trip home via Barentsburg can begin and this is a relatively urgent load.

The port was indeed a bit messy as it is one of the largest cargo ports in Nikolia, and thanks to the fact that two large container ships just unloaded their cargo from a long voyage around Astyria. Forklifts were everywhere, chasing to clear and stack the containers as soon as possible to allow the next vessel to load out. Noticing the trucks pilling up to the load deck, the main load supervisor, Tomasz chased towards the first truck, which happens to be from Aurora Confederacy. It was a bit weird to him as the Confederacy has a sea shore, but the surprise was not long lasting as he knew that companies seek the most cheapest way to transport the goods to their destination. He approached the truck, knocked on the driver side doors to collect the needed paperwork to load the container on the trailer. He then took the paperwork, rushed to the forklift driver, then scanned the barcode which was on the documents to allow the device in the forklift to easily locate the container, a device which was introduced to every Nikolian cargo port. It consisted of a GPS locator which was placed on the container as soon as it is unloaded, and it stays there untill it is picked up. It is quite useful system as it allowed the container to be loaded on the Auroran waiting truck within couple of minutes.
As soon as the load was on the trailer, Tomasz then got back to the truck cabin to return the signed and stamped documents in order for a truck to leave the port loading area. He directed the truck to the paperwork check office, which was near the entrance to the port. There, the truck drivers can validate their documents and confirm that they are good to transport the container box to its final destination.

[Aurora Confederacy]

Aleksandrovo
Container port


As the container landed on the chassis the truck rocked slightly and the container rumbled like a giant Base drum which was then followed by a hissing sound as air was being let into the airbags to reset the suspension, whilst this took place Adina climbed down to the floor and walked around the truck, locking and pinning the twistlocks one by one to ensure each locking lug was locked and therefore the container was secure. Adina then walked to the back of the container and checked it's seal number against the paperwork then the containers unique BIC number before securing the lock with a padlock before returning to the cab.

Inside the cab during this time Trish checked the route and checked the tax vignette of their truck and made all necessary payments to ensure that their due tolls are in fact paid using the Nikolian Highways Agency website. The cab rocked as Adina climbed aboard then took her toe capped boots off along with hard hat and high visibility jacket then promptly slung said items onto the bunk And turned to Trisha and smiled, "let's go home" she says, closing the door and getting the truck restarted.

With the engine running, Adina begins to roll following the stream of trucks leaving the docks and eventually she and Trisha arrive at the rotary junction, (roundabout), where the satnav gives one of its instructions, *At the rotary third exit you need, take it you will!* Adina eases the truck to a roll then carefully eases it around the island at a steady speed before accellerating away towards the ring road that would eventually lead to the motorway network. Second gear comes, then third fourth and so on right up to twelfth gear and once at a steady pace Adina settles into the rhythm dictated by the pace of travel, Trisha, because she will be taking over after Adina climbs, or rather crawls into the bottom bunk and pulls down the body restraint nets and settles down for a few hours to get some rest before night as in just under 9 hours time she will be taking over and letting Adina take her daily rest...

_{their journey continues...}

[Aurora Confederacy]

Over in Lake Hai'lu'kai Karen Deo, a middle aged woman with a split tongue, green hair and her eyes tattooed green, is watching the preparations of the small electric submarine that now sits in the water with waves lapping at the hull. Eventually the crew who run the operation open the gate and welcome the ever lengthening que of potential passengers to the site and aboard the large yellow submarine.

It takes another half an hour for the passengers to board the submarine where once aboard the passengers sit down on one of two long bench seats whilst up on top the handling crew close and secure the hatch. inside the sub it's captain turns to face the passengers aboard and with a smile he welcomes everyone aboard then retakes his seat as the shore side workers untie the vessel which then begins it's journey to the shelf of the lake.

The sub cruises for about 5 minutes on the surface then as the captain flicks a switch air is pushed out of vents and slowly the sub slips below the lake giving it's passengers a fishes eye view of the lake thanks to large polycarbonate windows. "this is your captain speaking, welcome to the Hai'lu'kai dolphin, here you will experience excellent views of the lake... " the tour commentary from an mp3 file continues on giving details of how several million years ago the lake was blasted out by a large volcanic eruption leaving steep sides which over time eroded to form the lake that now exists.