2008-08-19 - Uvena Ice and Water Tour

Uvena Prime: Equatorial - Market
An open-air market is the primary location to purchase goods and services in Equatorial. Peddlers and merchants ply their wares to any and passerby. Wheeled carts are the primary vending location found here, with only a handful of small shops along the exterior boundaries of the market.
Exotics scents and aromas dominate the cool, heavy air of Uvena at the market. Spiced and cooked meats can be found throughout the market being prepared by a large number of vendors. Other pleasant aromas come from garden stands selling vegetables, fruits, and flowers. However, not all smells in the market are pleasant, with a few mechanic shops dominating the periphery.
A large, metal warehouse dominates the northern edge of the market. The frozen, dirt street is clear of traffic through the market from the main square to the durasteel doors of the warehouse. Blue, block lettering above the doors reads: "Uvena Water and Ice."
The massive distribution warehouse of the Uvena Ice and Water plant looms large over the Equatorial marketplace. There are few vendors about, as the time of day for such business has passed, but still plenty of individuals milling about. Predominantly Shistavanen's with a few Sullustans sprinkled here and there. 
Tuil walks toward the place of interest with interest. He looks at the large structure and checks a datapad to ensure that he is in the right place before waiting to be met.
There does not seem to be a lack of people for Tuil to meet. As the human makes his way, and considering his dress, it seems they are all awaiting his arrival. The relatively small form of the Sullust President finds his way out of the crowd, cane and all. "Greetings Master Lindo. Welcome to Uvena Prime."
Tuil walks up and bows to Pesiro. "Greetings to you, Mr. President. I have come to take possession of the plant you have so generously offered the Jedi to administer."
Pesiro nods his head. "That is good to hear. This little crowd around me represents the board and workers unions. They wished to meet you as well. They would like to express they are happy to have the Jedi as the ownership chair and hope the profits they continue to generate will help the company's stock and the Jedi's mission."
Tuil smiles and looks around, bowing to the collected assembly. "On behalf of the Jedi, I pledge we will do our best to ensure that the employees profit just as much as the Jedi in this joint endeavor."
Tuil's brief comments gets a few claps from the crowd. Seems the hairy natives enjoy short comments rather than long speeches. One of the larger ones, with yellow eyes, steps forward. He speaks in very broken basic. "I Drrasshar. I led work. We dmire Yedi an glad do work wid you."
Tuil smiles at the being and offers a nod. "Those who work with their hands doing the basic work that needs to be done are the true backbone of the galaxy. All work is honorable if it is clean, decent work."
The Shistavanen nods his head before taking a step back. Pesiro gives the big creature a half-smile before looking at Tuil. "Maybe we should go inside? It is quite chilly this afternoon and I am sure you would like to see the operations of the company first hand."
Tuil nods. "Please lead on."
Pesiro turns toward the massive blast doors of the warehouse and leads Tuil and the large entourage into the warehouse.
Uvena Prime: Equatorial - Shipping Area
The warehouse used as a shipping area for the Uvena Water and Ice Company is rather extensive. A number of machines work to put the final packaging material onto the ice and water in preparation for shipping off world. Thirty loading droids are found between the monorail train and the packaging machines.
The sleek design of the monorail maximizes cargo capacity while limiting drag. There are no and the doors are sealed. The station for the monorail starts on the north wall and is large enough for the entire monorail to enter the warehouse.
The packaging machines are huge to allow for the size of the crates the water and ice arrive in via the monorail. The crates are reinforced and the packaging machines add shipping information labels. Ten loading droids unload the packaging machine and pile the crates near the durasteel doors where they are loaded onto tracked trucks to be taken to the spaceport and the rest of the galaxy.
Tuil looks around at the business and nods, seemingly familiar with it all. "I've studied the public records of this place. It looks like a good strong business.
The Shipping Area of the Uvena Ice and Water plant seems to be constantly in motion. The loading droids move around and the mostly automated plant seems to work as if it were clockwork. If there is an efficiency error somewhere, it would be difficult to find. Afterall, nothing worse in Sullustan society than inefficiency.
Pesiro leads the large group as he speaks. "Yes, there is a great deal of desire in the galaxy for the products produced here. The rugged nature of Uvena and the relative purity of what is found here is very marketable in the galaxy. No one wants ice or water from Coruscant, Corellia or any number of other industrialized worlds due to worries over pollution. Here, there is almost zero pollution and SoroSuub has made sure the plant is a zero emitter. It costs a bit to maintain, but the board has always agreed the extra expense is worth the small percentage the revenue would garner."
Tuil nods, quite interested. "Water on Coruscant, even the purified water, can be rather tasteless." He shrugs and adds, "Is there a place where I could try some?"
When Tuil asks for a water, the Shistavanen named Drrasshar walks over to a small work station. He pulls out a bottle and walks back over to Tuil. The Shistavanen even rips off the tab before offering it to the Jedi. "Da worker drink own producd."
Tuil takes the bottle and takes a sip followed by a few large gulps. Pulling the bottle away, he breathes and sighs and then smiles. "...Wow."
The Shistavanen smiles at Tuil's response to the drink, well, that looks like it could be a smile. The fangs still leave it a bit menacing. Another Sullustan, not the President speaks, up after Tuil's response to the drink. "That response is why we now have an ever increasing demand for our product. It is now sold on every civilized world in the galaxy at high prices. Due to us keeping a lean production quantity to barely meet demand, it is the most expensive water in the galaxy... which we find humorous, as our workers drink water that is seen fit only for the exceptionally wealthy on most worlds."
Tuil smirks and puts aside the now empty bottle. "Heh. I find that interesting indeed. What else is there to see? Do you filter heavily or leave in the natural minerals?"
Pesiro chuckles a bit at Tuil's comment and response. "You are a bit ahead of yourself Master Lindo. We still have plenty to see before we get to that point. This is only the shipping area. We have a bit of a train ride to go on first." The group starts to head toward station for the monorail. "I am sure you will enjoy your ride. There is plenty of room."
Tuil smiles more. "Of course, please lead the way."
Uvena Prime: Arctic Fields - Processing Plant Monorail
Uvena Ice and Water dug miles of tunnel through the permafrost of the planet to create a monorail between the Equatorial shipping area and the main processing plant in the extreme cold of the northern hemisphere. The tunnel has been reinforced, though there is little need unless the planet suddenly defrosted. The monorail runs along high-velocity tracks at upwards of five hundred kilometers an hour.
One car at each end of the train behind the engine is for passengers. The interior of the cars has padded, bench seating with few tables and good lighting. There are no windows for the passengers to look out of the car.
The processing plant station is busy with loading droids as machinery and supplies are taken off the monorail and packaged crates are loaded onto it. The underground area is modest compared to the size of the plant and warehouse to which it is connected. A large repulsorlift door is located on the east wall of the cavern.
The entire group gets into the two monorail passenger cars. Tuil is in the car with Pesiro, the Shistavanen union leader and a number of others. As the train travels to the north, Pesiro looks over at Tuil. "I am curious. Beyond your notice of accepting this gift, I have heard nothing from the Jedi of the other issues and advice for which I spoke. Might you have heard of some?"
Tuil nods. "At the moment, I believe Master Kenobi will be seeing to that. But he is detained due to the crisis of leadership on Bothawui. I am in a state of disrepute and would not make a good ambassador at this point, though I keep up my contacts with Alderaan and Corellia." The Jedi shrugs.
"A state of disrepute? For what caused to such to occur? I am sorry if I am not always up on individual Jedi business." Pesiro questions Tuil's answer.
Tuil shrugs. "Matters of law on Mon Calamari. It's nothing that I am too concerned about." He glances over at the union leader and asks, "Does your membership feel it is being treated well by current management?"
Drrasshar turns to look at the Jedi when he is spoken to. It seems he had been speaking in his native tongue to a number of other groups. "We dreaded well. Ours nod long an we ged profid shar. Wid stock so well, we pay for endire dribe needs. We much appy."
Tuil smiles. "Excellent." The Jedi pats his leg with his hand to emphasize his point and then looks to Pesiro. "Is it much farther?"
Pesiro laughs at Tuil's comment. "The train travels at five hundred kilometers per second, which is quite fast, but you are still travelling from the planets equator to near its north pole. I thought Jedi were known for their patience?"
Tuil shakes his head, "I did not realize we were crossing the planet's surface."
Pesiro nods his head. "We are actually crossing under the planet's surface. Uvena does not have any plate techtonics like most worlds. We often equate Uvena to a planet-sized moon. It may have been at on time, considering the massive asteroid field between it and the sun."
Tuil nods. "I see." He folds his hands and falls silent then for the trip.
The train eventually arrives at its destination. The doors open in the passenger cars and the group slowly makes it way out. They mill about the station area as they await for everyone to get out of the car. The crowded area causes the droids a hint of annoyance, running over a few unweary feet as they go about their work.
Tuil climbs out and looks around. He notices his breath and pulls his outer robe closer. "Is this where the water is gathered then?"
"The water and the ice. We actually sell both. We found that our customers prefer to have their ice arrive as cold as it was when it was cut from the glaciers here," Pesiro answers the question. "Let us go to the lift, we are not yet to the plant itself... this is just the loading station for the train." Pesiro leads the group toward the repulsorlift.
Tuil nods and follows the president.
Uvena Prime: Arctic Fields - Processing Plant
The temperature of the Uvena Ice and Water processing plant is cool, though warm compared to the temperature outside its two blast doors. The plant is located far north on the northern hemisphere of the planet. The constant winds and snow is blocked by durasteel walls and drowned out by the constant movement of heavy machinery.
The middle of the plant is dominated by heavy machinery. The heavy machinery cuts huge blocks of ice into more manageable sizes before packaging them in crates designed to keep them perfectly frozen. Other machines melt ice and snow and put them into plastic bottles. A multitude of different sized loading droids work to add ice and snow to the beginning of the process.
The ice and snow is brought in be specially insulated droids through the two large blast doors on the west and east side of the plant. The droids dominate the work force at the processing plant, though there are a few Sullustans and Shistavanen dressed warmly making sure everything is running smoothly. A ladder leads up into a warmer office area where most employees are located.
The Repulsorlift is unable to take everyone in the group at the same time. So, the most important dignitaries take the first lift up and go about showing Tuil around as the others make their way up. "And here is the processing area itself," Pesiro declares.
Tuil watches the workers and droids at work and nods. "It all looks quite impreessive. How cold is it outside?"
"During the peak winter months, there are storms that completely freeze everything exposed to the air in less than a minute. These are about the only time the droids need maitenance, as the entire machine will freeze. SoroSuub has been working on protection for the droids, but the testing process has been slow." Pesiro answers in a backwards manner. "It never gets much warmer than negative twenty degrees celsius."
Tuil shivers at the mention of all that cold and he nods. "So the ice is transported like that all the way back down to the equator? That must be pretty impressive keeping it at that temperature while having zero emissions. Incredible."
"The transportation boxes we use were specially designed for such. The box actually keeps the ice freezing by taking the same temperature as the ice. There is an outside cover that can be touched without harming anyone. The transportation containers are very new, only created within the last decade by SoroSuub. The containers are recycled after use, as we require the vendors to return them as part of their contract." Pesiro responds to Tuil's question. "Obviously, we do not want anyone stealing the design for the container as it is a SoroSuub patent."
"Of course." Tuil smiles. "Is there anything else to see? If not, I'm ready to head back for warmer climes."
"I believe that is all, unless you want to walk around a bit more to look at the operation's procedures. Though, if you are cold, I am sure we can venture back to the slightly warmer climes of Equatorial." Pesiro reaches inside his suit and pulls back his collar, revealing a thermo suit underneath. "I always come prepared when I visit here," he speaks in amusement with a large smile over his lips.
Category:August 2008 RP Logs