Sarah had never seen so many chairs and tables in her life. The cargo bay was filled with them from floor to ceiling. Ash grunted as he pulled the strap that held them tight so they wouldn't slide around during the flight. Mel and Juste helped him. He pressed the intercom button.

"Cargo secure. But tell Dave to keep the fancy flying to a minimum." He wiped some sweat off his brow. "Good thing this trip won't be long. I don’t have to do all that heavy lifting then cook."

Juste nodded. "And I'm reminded why I went into journalism. But now, we have a while to do tutoring."

"Hope you don't mind doing it on the bridge. I have to keep an ear on the radio after all." Sarah told him as she started walking that way. "Will LouLou be alright by herself?"

"I left her favorite toy with her. She'll be fine for a while. Now, let's do Paradisian first. I think I know one of the spots you're having trouble with."

While Juste was no linguis, Sarah found that his very knowledgeable with language. He had a way of using it that she admired. Yes, she was fluent in several languages but it was very technical. It didn’t have any sort of flow to it. At the same time, he seemed to appreciate her technicality, especially since he had a hard time with that when it came to Aleman.

The radio crackled to life. A lesson on the Alemanian articles would have to be put on hold for a few minutes. She picked up the receiver to reply. The person on the other end was speaking Aboloanian, but with an accent as thick as tar.

"This is the Echelon, we read you loud and clear, over."

"What is the reason that you wish to enter Aleman airspace, Echelon? Over."

"We've carrying some cargo and one passenger. Further instructions needed, over."

There was silence on the radio for a moment before they came back. "Acknowledged, Echelon. Pull up at inspection port 2. Do you need coordinates over?"

Sarah looked over to Heather, who nodded. Dave had a look that said "those weren’t there last time". Juste got up, probably to get his stuff.

"Affirmative on those coordinates. Anything else? Over."

The operator rattled off the coordinates. "Have papers ready. And do not pull in too fast. Over."

"Roger that. We will keep this channel open. Over and out."

Heather looked at the map and gave Dave directions. Apparently, they weren’t too far from the location.

"I'm glad you're along, Sarah." Heather admitted as she opened the drawer at her desk and pulled out a folder thicker than the one she had the last time. Aleman had not streamlined things, it seemed. She'd need help carrying the papers. "I could barely understand anything he said. I don’t know how you managed it.”

“I know the mistakes that Alemanian native speakers tend to make when speaking Aboloanian, so I know what they probably meant.” It was a good thing that the radio signal had been pretty clear, or she might’ve not been able to understand either. “Speaking of Alemanian, have you thought of what’s going to happen if I’m denied entry? Aren’t Libans considered enemies of the state in Aleman and other League countries?”

“No, that’s Syreal. I think in Aleman they consider you guys traitors.” Dave remarked as he brought in the ship for a landing. “I don’t know how you can be a traitor to a country you’ve never been to, but apparently, you can. If worse comes to worse, you can just stay on the ship with someone.”

Once he landed and cut power, Juste appeared with his bag and LouLou on a leash. The fox didn’t look too happy and constantly tugged on it. He straightened his hat and removed some papers from the inside of his coat.

“They’ll probably want me to come with them for an interview.” He stated. “So here, my payment.” He handed Heather a few bills. “I believe that will cover things. And if you ever decide to start advertising, I have quite a bit of pull at the newspaper I usually work for in Paradis. I could probably get you a discount on advertising.”

“Make it a paper in Aboloan and I’ll consider it.” She counted the money before jotting the amount down and putting it in a bag. “I just hope I have enough time to put this into a safe before they get here.”

She hurried toward the back of the ship. Sarah wasn’t sure where the safe was that they kept money in, but she didn’t need to know. It would make sense that only Heather and Dave would know, seeing how they ran the business part of the company.

“I wonder which agent will be the one to process us.” Dave mused as he grabbed his cane and got up from the seat. “Wouldn’t it be neat if it was the same one that interviewed us after the whole Yager thing?” He was only being slightly sarcastic this time. “What was his name? Schmidt? No, that wasn’t it.”

“Which one? Captain Anton or Colonel Heinz?” Sarah wasn’t sure how she recalled their names. It all seemed like a long time ago.

“Heinz? That’s the name of the person we’re doing all of this for. I wonder if there’s any relation.”

Sarah shook her head. “Doubtful. Heinz is a very common surname, along with Anton and Schmidt.” Though it would be ironic. The Heinz that owned the furniture company was very outspoken against current Alemanian policies and movements, which was probably why he couldn’t deliver the furniture himself and had to hire a third party to do it. A third party that would be allowed into Aleman because they happened to speak a language that was related to Alemanian.

Mel also came to the bridge. He had some documents which he handed Heather. “This is for certain medicines I am carrying. The permission slips should still be good.”

“Where’s the rest of them?” Dave asked.

“Claire had to fix something and Ash is cleaning the kitchen. Something about a cheese explosion.”

"Well, they're going to be more interested in the cargo anyways. They'll already have our records since we've been here." Dave turned his head as there was a knock on the door. "Who wants to get it?"

Sarah did, mostly because Heather had so many things in hand and Mel would probably freeze up once he opened the door. But she made sure to step aside once she did. If they were anything like the Syrealian inspectors, they would be in a hurry. She nearly hid behind the door when she saw Captain Anton enter. She hadn't forgotten how the man reacted when he learned where she was from. He scowled.

"Ach, it's you again. How have you not been banned yet?"

It took Sarah a moment to realize that the Captain wasn’t looking or speaking to her, but instead at Juste. The reporter smiled a bit.

"Nice to meet you again, Captain. We were just talking about you, though I wasn't sure if you were the one the crew met before or not."

Captain Anton growled a bit and stomped toward Juste, grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him close.

"If I had my way, I would shoot you right noo-ow!"

LouLou bit the man's leg, causing him to let go. She backed off once he did.

"And I would make a scarf out of that fox of yours!" He held the spot where she had bit him. "I will have you arrested for assault on an officer! Then we'll see how nosy you can be in a jail cell!"

Someone cleared their throat from the door. It was a man dressed in an ASP uniform, but he was at least a decade younger than Colonel Heinz and didn’t carry himself like a military man.

"I believe that would be my decision, not yours, Captain." He sauntered onto the bridge. "And I don't think a measly warning bite counts as assault. If it hurts that much, you could always ask the nedic to look at it."

Mel nodded. "I-I be glad to p-patch you up, C-captain. It doesn’t look too s-serious from here."

"Fine. But if only to inspect the infirmary. The team will take care of the rest." The Captain followed Mel. The ASP just shook his head.

"And he wonders why he never gets promoted. A high ranking officer needs better control of his temper." The ASP looked to the rest of them.. His gaze lingered on Sarah a bit longer than any of the others. "I should probably introduce myself. I am Agent Zehn, the one in charge of your stay here. Think of me more as a tour guide than a babysitter."

He stepped aside so the inspection team could come in. One saluted him. He pointed him to Heather's direction.

He pointed to another one.

The team scrambled to obey his orders. Juste seemed to understand enough to follow the one the Agent had ordered to take him. He waved to Sarah and the rest before he and the soldier disappeared. LouLou was following behind, though it was clear that she wasn’t thrilled about the whole ordeal.

“I assume you’re Captain David Sherman.” Agent Zehn stated. “And then you must be Heather Letterman, the navigator. And the rest of the crew is…”

“Finishing up a couple of things.” Dave replied as he approached the agent. He held out a hand for a shake. To Sarah’s surprise, the agent shook. “Agent Zehn? I thought all the ASP officers held ranks…”

“Only if they have military rank, which most of them do. I wasn’t recruited from the military.” His gaze once again returned to Sarah. It wasn’t a glaring gaze like with Colonel Smirnov, more of a curious one. “Speaking of recruitment, apparently, you’ve recently recruited a new radio operator of your own. You weren’t registered as having one the last time you were here.”

“Things have happened since then.” Dave said and that was all he was going to give. “So, shall we begin the grand tour?”

“You seem to have the wrong impression, Captain. I won’t be coming along on the inspection.” Agent Zehn looked at a scuff mark on the floor. “As much as I’m sure it’s a wonderful ship, I have another duty I must attend to at the moment.”

“Oh, well it was nice meeting you then, Agent Zehn. I won’t keep you if it’s that important.”

Zehn nodded before approaching Sarah. He held out a gloved hand. Sarah looked at it, unsure what he meant by it. Did he want a hand shake from her too? Sure, he had taken Dave’s but he hadn’t offered it to Dave. That and his hand was in the wrong position. His palm was pointing up instead of to the side.

He suddenly said in Alemanian.

The Alemanian threw her off a bit. He had a flawless Aboloanian accent and phrasing that she had forgotten that he was an Almeanian ASP officer. Though why he wanted the papers she kept on her, she wasn’t sure.

Sarah reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the papers he requested, putting them in his hand.

Zehn didn’t look at her papers before putting them in his own coat pocket.

“Not to question you, Agent, but doesn’t she need to keep a hold of them?” Dave questioned. Clearly, he thought something was up with the situation. Sarah was finding it strange too.

“Oh, I forgot to mention that I’ll be taking Ms. Hidalgo out for a bit while the inspection team does their job.” He answered as if it hadn’t occurred to him that he might need to mention an important detail like that. “Don’t worry; I’ll have her back before too late. And it’s better if I hold her papers for her. At least that way, no one will accidentally misplace them when they seize them.” He turned to the door. “Come Ms. Hidalgo, I know a nice little tea shop not too far from the docks.”

Heather got between him and the door. “No, there’s no way we’re letting her go alone with you. It’s a policy we have here, no one goes out by themselves and no one stays by themselves, especially in a foreign country.”

Zehn had to wave off a soldier that was approaching her. “And that’s a very wise policy to have, Mrs. Lettermen.” The soldier backed off. “But right now, she and I need some alone time. Besides, I doubt your husband would like it very much if another man were to take you to tea. I promise to return her unharmed. It’s just for a chat.”

“I very much doubt that.” But seeing that there was a whole bunch of armed people on board that outnumbered them, Heather got out of his way. “But if it gets to be too late…”

“You’ll send your husband, the former upcoming boxing champ, after me. That’s a wise policy too.” He stopped at the door. “Well Ms. Hidalgo, are you coming?”

Did she want to go off with an ASP? No. Did she really have a choice? Also no. She wondered if going out with one meant the same thing it did with Syrealian soldiers. And he did have her papers. She needed those back.

“Yes, I’m coming.” She turned to Heather and Dave. “I’ll be back before too late, I’m sure. Just focus on the inspection and making that delivery. It is our big break after all.”

Heather gave her a tight hug and was hesitant to let go. “We’ll be waiting.” Dave gave a nod and Sarah followed Agent Zehn out. Well, she had always wanted to see Aleman. It looked like she was about to get a very personal tour.