Title: Empire Builders
Author: charlie1902
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Genre: Adventure/friendship
Rating: K+
Warning: A plane crashes but nothing gets close to as explicit as an average episode
Spoilers: None
Summery: I started writing this a year ago but gave up deciding it was too unbelievable … thank you Volcano Grimsvotn. The BAU team are stranded after a volcanic eruption grounds all flights in North America.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters you recognise but do own the ones you don't. This is my way of loving them.
Chapter One
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
Winston Churchill
Deputy Michael Farrelly was a talker no doubt about that. The man had seemingly not paused for breath the entire twenty minutes he had been driving. As they sat in his patrol car: SSA Aaron Hotchner, SSA Emily Prentiss and SSA Doctor Spencer Reid, were thoroughly fed up with his voice. After five days with him they had been eager to get away but Sheriff Elizabeth Drysdale had insisted the BAU team be chauffeured to their FBI jet. The short but fiery woman had been worried about a snow storm that was quickly heading their way and even Hotchner had been unable to talk her into changing her mind. So despite the clear sky and current snow-free roads the team had split into two police cars. SSA David Rossi, SSA Jennifer Jareau and SSA Derek Morgan had been quickest and were ahead of them being driven by the blissfully silent Deputy Dylan Scollick.
The team had flown into Haines, Alaska last Monday morning fresh from a relaxing weekend. However investigating two graves with six bodies in each they were quickly busy. It had been a particularly urgent case and they were all thankful it turned out to be easier than they expected; the high death count a result of the killer remaining undetected rather than highly skilled. After solving the case late Thursday night they had planned to fly back Friday morning and have a second work-free weekend – almost unheard of for the team.
"So like I was saying we sure are grateful to you guys for com'in all the way over and up here to help us out. I ain't never seen a horror like that them graves and some hunters' make a lot'ta mess you know." Reid clutched his hand tighter around his bag strap: the urge to correct his grammar had been building since he greeted them with, 'Howdy folks I'm Deputy Mike Farrelly real glad you got 'ere so speedy.' In the past Reid had corrected the bad grammar of several local police and upset them so Hotch had asked him to try and restrain himself. Sitting alongside him in the back Emily noticed his tension and sought to help,
"It's our pleasure Deputy and I must admit I have enjoyed the scenery here. It's beautiful and so quiet." She said with emphasis,
"Yea I bin 'ere all ma life so's I pro'ly take it for granted. Don't hardly notice it course I could tell ya bout all the trees and birds and stuff …" and he was off again, Emily should have known by now he couldn't take a hint.
"Whoa!" the car swerved as the ground trembled beneath them,
"They seem to be getting worse," Hotch commented calmly looking across at their driver. He was sitting in the front calming reading through a report,
"Volcano's getting more violent, heard it on the radio earlier. They started the evac few hours ago."
"Do you think Haines will need to be evacuated?" Emily asked,
"Na she's too far away in fact we'll pro'ly be taking a few folk in ourselves."
"They'll be flying here til the storm hits then they'll use boats doubt many will try an' drive with this storm,"
"How urgent is the situation? Is there something we could do to help?" Hotch finally put away his report and gave his full attention to the situation,
"If things get real bad real quick they might wanna nick your plane leave ya stuck here for another day or two but I doubt it. Radio said to give it another week or so before she blows properly just some minor eruptions spilling out noxious stuff right now making it difficult but not dangerous." Atrocious grammar aside the deputy was smart and good at his job.
Suddenly the ground shook harder for longer and the car ahead of them slipped off the road luckily onto a flat, grassy verge. Both cars stopped and waited for the tremor to pass. Looking out his window Reid suddenly shouted and pointed out the window,
"Look!"
A massive thick cloud of ask was bellowing out into the sky. Within a minute the sky above them was dark and ash was raining down on them.
"We gotta go back, sorry but people'll start panicking," Deputy Dylan had already had the same thought and was turning, Aaron's phone rang,
"Hotchner,"
"Hotch, Deputy Scollick is taking us back to the town …" Rossi was interrupted by the deputy's radios,
"I need you back here, FBI too, they're not gonna be allowed to fly in this, reports from above say the cloud isn't dangerous but people should stay in doors. We're not to evac yet but it could happen."
The two deputies' acknowledged the orders and speeded back to the town. Haines airport was only three miles away so soon everybody was helping out. It was barely lunch time so Deputy Mike was organising getting school children back to their homes. Deputy Dylan was at the Haines Seaplane Base helping people who wanted to leave do so calmly. Sheriff Elizabeth was stuck at the police department on the radio receiving instructions and listening to what was going on closer to the volcano.
The BAU team had split up and were driving around checking on people: making sure they were calm. Morgan, Rossi and JJ were to the north checking in on the Hospice and local businesses. Hotch, Prentiss and Reid went to the south. They were driving along the beach when the report came in of a plane crashing in the ocean off the coast of Washington state. It was instantly assumed the crash was a result of flying too near the ash cloud and all planes on the west coast were grounded. Once the BAU team had recovered from their shock Reid wondered at how the same thing had happened in Europe just the year before – he had read all about the situation and recounted the tale of woe over the radios.
Within an hour thick ash cloud made it impossible to see more than a few feet and the storm that had been on the horizon arrived. Heavy rain mixed with large ash particles; ripping through materials and leaving gashes on the few people outside. Suddenly a boom of thunder momentarily deafened and a burst of lightening lit the area, then again a second time, a third was already miles away.
The situation remained the same all night. Sheriff Drysdale had spent all day trying to organise relief in the form of state troopers but when they had arrived they were quickly re-directed closer to the volcano and became busy moving people directly at risk from floods (from the melted ice) and lava. Haines was far enough away that the advice was to stay in doors instead of leave. Occasionally they heard more about the earlier plane crash. It was a solemn moment at 03:27 when they heard "No survivors." A little while later a personal two-man plane crashed in Canada near Vancouver and flights in and out of the large city were also stopped.
People everywhere in the North corner of the west coast of the Americas were stranded … at least for now.
WC - 1324
AN
Sorry if this seemed rushed the main point of the story will be the teams' journey home.
