Over the next few days, everyone got to work getting the Galdredan Railway fixed. Now that no one had to worry about bombs whizzing overhead, trains could run as normal and fix things. There were quite a few craters that severed the rail lines. As rail traffic was the major source of goods, repairs to the railway were given top priority. Dame Galya Gronsar, the Orc Controller of the Galdredan Railway, was very succinct in what was needed for repairs. She once thought her Mechanica engines wouldn\u2019t be the most efficient, but after the Mechanica Trial\u2019s results and after seeing them in action, she was never happier to be wrong. One of her engines, a Mechanica woman named Lushar, was marshaling freight cars in the quarry she was inspecting. Once Lushar had a break, Galya came up to talk to her. \u201cThere she is!\u201d she praised. \u201cThe model of efficiency herself!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDame Gronsar, hello!\u201d replied Lushar. \u201cHow are things?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re looking up. I can\u2019t tell you how thrilled I am that we\u2019re repairing things so quickly. I had though repairs would take the better part of the month, but it looks like things are going to be done in half that time! The ballast trains have been practically flying out of here like clockwork and they\u2019re lining up perfectly with railway tie production!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What about the actual rails themselves?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the only slow part. Smelting down metal\u2019s a rather involved process and, given that we lost good engines and staff in the War, it\u2019s taken a lot of wind out of people\u2019s sails.\u201d Lushar lowered her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt least those engines that lost their lives were scrapped respectfully.\u201d Galya nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd speaking of engine numbers, I\u2019ve noticed that you\u2019re the only engine here. Have you really been clearing out the quarry on your own?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, Ma\u2019am, but I won\u2019t turn my nose up at help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s good to hear. I\u2019ll be transferring Rushak here to help you before the day\u2019s out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn excellent decision, Ma\u2019am! I know it\u2019ll make him happy to work in the quarry again!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just have to admit, I\u2019m astounded you went this far on your own. Don\u2019t you get tired, even just a little bit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHonestly, I found a way to do this all day.\u201d Galya arched an eyebrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReally? How?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGumption and commitment, Ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it,\u201d confirmed Lushar. \u201cThat\u2019s all an engine needs to have a long, fulfilling career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re an inspiration to everyone with that attitude,\u201d praised Galya. \u201cI have to say, though, there are those on the Board of Directors that are sorely lacking in that regard. \u2026Well, I\u2019ve inspected enough of the quarry. I need to head to Dropath Harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy next train\u2019s heading there, Ma\u2019am. I can take you there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat sounds perfect! It\u2019ll save me the mana for a teleport spell, and I\u2019ve always enjoyed a good train ride in a brake-van.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet me just pick one up and we\u2019ll be good to go!\u201d Lushar headed off, found a brake-van, attached it to her train, then returned to the front. Galya and the Conductor entered the brake-van, the workers checked the couplings on the train, then gave the Conductor a thumbs-up when everything was good. The Conductor blew his whistle and waved the green flag. Lushar and her crew looked back, then she blew three short blasts from her whistle to indicate she was ready as well. Steam then entered her pistons and made her wheels turn. The train picked up speed and they travelled down the line. The line went through the Southern Continent\u2019s rare green area before leading to the familiar rocky terrain leading to Dropath Harbor in the south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the train was moving, someone cloaked in an invisibility spell was at a set of points. The person used a hammer to make the points move so it would switch tracks to a line that led to a set of buffers at the edge of a pond near the signal box. The person then set a barrel of liquid mana near the points and punctured the barrel, letting the liquid mana spill onto the tracks. They heard two short whistle blasts and dashed into the bushes nearby. Lushar rounded the bend and saw the spilled mana! \u201cDRIVER! BRAKES!\u201d she called. Her brakes came on hard, but it was too late! She skidded into the spilled mana and was sent down the wrong line. She went so fast that she crashed into the buffers and slithered into the pond. Her head was dunked underwater, so she pulled it out and gasped for air. Once she finished spluttering, she looked at the situation she was in. \u201c\u2026Okay! So\u2026that happened!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLushar!\u201d called Galya\u2019s voice as she ran up to the engine. \u201cAre you all right?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m fine, Ma\u2019am. Just wet. You?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy end was the least affected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDraynak, Voruth, how about you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re okay!\u201d replied her driver, Draynak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweet Ones, what happened?!\u201d asked Galya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a leaking barrel of mana next to the tracks,\u201d explained Lushar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?!\u201d yelped her fireman, Voruth. \u201cWho\u2019d be dumb enough to put a leaky barrel there?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProbably the same yutz who set the points to this line!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ll call for help!\u201d declared Galya as she opened her makeup mirror and cast a communications spell on it. \u201cUpend my railway\u2019s operations, will they?! Someone\u2019s gonna answer for this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope so!\u201d agreed Lushar. She then sighed. \u201cBust my buffers, the day started out so well too!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A male tank engine Mechanica, Rushak, brought cranes, a flatbed, a medical coach, and one of the Mechanica engines of the local Railway Investigations Agency. The cranes put Lushar onto the flatbed as it was discovered that her brakes locked her wheels in one place and flattened out the bottoms, so she had to get new wheels. The RIA engine, an Officer Julnath, inspected the points with his crew. The Signalwoman, a Frostik named Rulja, was quick to give her statement and surrender all her security footage. When the footage showed nothing, Julnath\u2019s crew checked the cameras themselves. What they found was VERY disturbing. They found evidence of a Realmfleet-grade scattering spell, designed to play the same image on a camera as if nothing had happened. It was used a lot during the Final War to confuse the cameras of the Realm Trinity Empire when Realmfleet officers infiltrated their bases. Because of this finding and the fact that it was a spell beyond Rulja\u2019s skillset, Rokalla and the Narvens were informed. Rokalla assigned the Endeavor<\/em> to assist in finding the saboteur and Arsha handed out assignments to the crew, determined to find out who was the monster behind this and to hopefully prevent lives from being lost so early into the current Age of Unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the next few days, everyone got to work getting the Galdredan Railway fixed. Now that no one had to worry about bombs whizzing overhead, trains could run as normal and fix things. There were quite a few craters that severed the rail lines. As rail traffic was the major source of goods, repairs to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,239],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-5342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-realms","category-the-three-realms-book-6-the-eternal-age-of-unity","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5343,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342\/revisions\/5343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}