Unknown Skies part 30
1 week after the "Quesadilla" Incident
"Winter 595, you are cleared for take off, surface winds are 08 knots on heading 150, altimiter 2991. Have a good flight back to Arendelle" the Air traffic Controller at Reykjavik/Keflavik airport spoke over the radio.
"Roger that tower, Winter 595 is cleared for take off, surface winds, 08 knots on heading 150, altimetre 2991. Will do" Sam replied.
Sam and Dan then placed both hands on Quebec Echo's throttles and said,
"Three, Two, One, POWER"
At that they pushed the throttles forward and Quebec Echo lurched as the 757's twin rolls royce engines powered up and launched the jet down the runway and into the skies. With no air traffic, Quebec Echo was able to climb rapidly though the evening skies as Sam and Dan turned the Boeing on its way back home to Arendelle.
The Two Pilots, as well as Anna, Elsa, Olaf and everyone else in the cabin were feeling happy and relaxed right about now. They had flown in to Keflavik to check on everyone there and so that some of the younger passengers of the flights grounded there to meet the Arendellian Sisters.
Having spent a happy and productive day at the airport, with a promise to everyone there that some of the planes could start taking off to their new homes very soon, everyone on-board Quebec Echo were eager to get home to Arendelle.
The beautiful sunset shone off of Quebec Echo's airframe and wings, casting a wonderful glow across the sky and into the cabin. Making for a wonderful sight indeed.
"Nothing quite like a sunset at 370 eh?" Dan asked.
"Aye, nothing like it. You know, we never got this kind of sunset back home" Sam replied.
Watching the sunset glow and slowly change into night, Sam and Dan nearly didn't notice Anna and Elsa open the cockpit door and enter the cockpit. The two pilots were quite used to this, they didn't mind either as the two sisters knew not to interfere with any operations of the aircraft. That and they had no idea as to what most of the controls on the 757 did.
"Everything alright in the back?" Sam asked his sisters.
"Of course. The Take-off was perfect as usual. Although I think one of the newer guards is currently praying to the porcelain god" Anna replied.
Sam and Dan both cringed at that last part of Anna's statement. They both knew what it was like on their first flight.
The four chatted as they normally did when in the air, sometimes making notes about the weather and progress of the flight, occasionally Elsa would use her magic to clear away as much of any bad weather ahead as possible.
"This is perfect" Elsa thought, This was the kind of family moment she had dreamed of having with Anna ever since Elsa had to go into isolation all those years ago.
However, that moment was quite rudely interrupted by the sound of the radar beeping loudly, as to alert to another aircraft! Sam looked down at the radar screen and said,
"Looks like we have another aircraft coming in fast on our 6 o clock."
The shape on radar did come in fast, did a small turn to port and began to fly along Quebec Echo's port side.
"It's that weird plane again!" Elsa gasped.
She was right, the mysterious black, shadowy aircraft from several days before was flying right off of the Boeing's port side, the sunlight framing the thing in a low warning glow that unnerved all that saw it.
"There's another one on our right!" Dan exclaimed in a mixture of alarm and curiosity.
There was indeed another mysterious shadow plane on the starboard side of the 757.
"And another behind us!" Anna warned, looking down at the radar screen.
Sam looked at each of the planes in turn and without talking to anyone, reached up and turned on the fasten seatbelt signs.
"I have a very bad feeling about this, you two might want to strap yourselves in tight. And quickly" He told Anna and Elsa, who sat themselves down in the cockpit jumpseats and strapped themselves in tight.
"Unidentified aircraft on my 9, 3, and 6 o clock, this is Boeing 757, Golf-Hotel-Papa-Quebec-Echo, a civillian passenger aircraft enroute to Arrendelle from Keflavik international, you are flying dangerously close to my aircraft, in violation of international aviation law. Please desist and state your intentions immediatley" Sam spoke into the radio.
As before, there was no reply from the shadow planes.
"I say again, Unidentified aircraft on my 9, 3, and 6 o clock, this is Boeing 757, Golf-Hotel-Papa-Quebec-Echo, a civillian passenger aircraft enroute to Arrendelle from Keflavik international, you are flying dangerously close to my aircraft, in violation of international aviation law. Please desist and state your intentions immediatley" Sam spoke into the radio again.
This time however, a very garbled reply came back, but what came through the radio made Sam and Dan's faces morph into a mask of unmistakeable terror. The two would never say for the rest of their lives what exactly they heard, but whatever it was, after that radio call several things happened.
The first was that the shadow planes on the 9 and 3 o clock positions off Quebec Echo's sides flew back to join their companion on the boeing's 6 o clock, the second was that Sam disengaged the plane's autopilot and the third was he turned and said to Anna and Elsa,
"I hope you two have strong stomachs!"
Elsa was about to ask why, when the radar started bleeping loudly as if its life depended on it!
"MISSILE LAUNCH, 6 O CLOCK!"
"Wait, WHAT?!" Anna exclaimed in fear.
Before anyone could say anything else, Sam immediatley idled the engines and sent Quebec Echo into a steep dive!
The Altimiter and the Airspeed inticator went crazy as the 757 acellerated downwards violently, causing Elsa, Anna and everyone in the passenger cabin to shout in alarm!
"AIRSPEED! AIRSPEED! SINKRATE, SINKRATE, WHOOP WHOOP, PULL UP, PULL UP!" the aircraft's computers blared out.
The Plane lost over 10 thousand feet before Sam slammed on the speedbrakes, pulling hard on the control column, gave full power to the engines and once the plane was climbing, disengaged the speedbrakes.
Quebec Echo shot up like a rocket, causing several systems on the plane to blare out warnings which all merged into a disorientating cacophony.
"MAYDAY, MAYDAY, THIS IS GOLF-HOTEL-PAPA-QUEBEC-ECHO, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY HOSTILE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT, WE NEED ASSISTANCE. I SAY AGAIN, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, THIS IS GOLF-HOTEL-PAPA-QUEBEC-ECHO, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY HOSTILE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT, WE NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE!" Dan yelled into the radio as the boeing climbed rapidly and made a sharp turn to starboard.
"Those planes are shooting at us!" Anna yelled out in fear.
"Don't worry, Sam will get us out of this. Just have a little faith" Elsa replied, even though she was just as terrified as Anna was.
"Don't count your lucky stars just yet. We're all on our own out here and I don't know if I can hold these things off much longer" Sam yelled back, as he forced Quebec Echo into a steep spiral dive to port.
A missile shot past the plane and exploded just a few inches out of reach of the 757!
"One good hit and we are done for!" Dan yelled.
"Not helping mate!" Sam shouted back.
"Elsa, why don't you. Conjure up an ice storm or something. Try and shoot those planes down that way?" Anna asked her sister, as Quebec Echo levelled out and lurched violently to starboard, nearly flinging everyone out of their seats!
"I've never used my magic inside the plane before. Besides, i am more likely to bring us down instead of the other planes" Elsa replied, whilst trying not to evacuate her lunch.
"We don't have much of a choice!" Sam said to his sister.
The shadow planes were getting close and closer to Quebec Echo and somehow had an infinite supply of ammunition, making Sam fly ever more extreme maneuvres to evade them, alot of these maneuvres the 757 was not designed to be able to take!
"Elsa, if you don't do something soon. We'll be shot down!"
Sam yelled out.
Sam was right, Elsa knew that. But still, she was terrified of what effect her powers could have on Quebec Echo. She could destroy the engines, or an all manner of other things.
But it was a chance she would have to take, so as Sam forced the plane into another steep climb, Elsa closed her eyes and focussed her magic.
Outside, dark stormclouds began to gather, hail and snow began to rain down from them and on occasion, a powerful bolt of lightning would shoot out and freeze anything that it touched.
"Fly towards that storm!" Elsa instructed Sam.
"That's suicide! But it's perfect!" Sam replied as he steered the aircraft towards the storm. Just before it entered, Sam and Dan engaged all of Quebec Echo's anti ice systems and the windscreen wipers for good measure.
The Shadow planes followed Quebec Echo into the storm, obviously not knowing how dangerous the storm was.
"Bloody idiots, don't they know that flying into icing conditions is best avoided?" Dan joked.
At that, a bolt of icy lightning rang out and hit one of the shadow planes oblitering it in a shower of icy shards!
"1 down. Two to go" Elsa said, her face showing the amount of concentration and effort she was putting into the storm.
"Just hang in there sis" Anna spoke to her sister in as a comforting way as she could, whilst trying to not be sick.
Sam made another violent maneuvre to the right, and that sent Anna scrambling for an air sickness bag. It also managed to lose the two remaining shadow planes in a cloud!
"We lost em!" Anna yelled out, before promptly being sick again in the bag she found.
"Anna, have you seen every movie ever? There is one common rule to all of them and that is NEVER say I think we lost em or we lost em" Sam said to her, before everyone started screaming again.
Sam looked up from speaking to Anna to see one of the shadow planes bearing down upon them head on! Sam immediatley pulled the control column as far back as he could and put on full left bank, but as Quebec Echo began to respond to the controls, the Shadow Plane unleashed a torrent of machine gun fire at the 757 before slamming into the belly of the airliner in a massive explosion of magic!
The shock of the explosion broke Elsa's concentration and the storm faded. Elsa did wish however she was still in the trance as she had awoken to find Sam, Dan, Anna and herself wearing oxygen masks and Quebec Echo was in another steep dive!
Various alarms were bleeping like mad and several of the flight instruments had gone dark.
"C'mon you old cow, level off!" Dan cursed at the plane as he and Sam struggled with the controls.
Slowly, and with a groan of protest, the 757 lifted its nose and settled in to a level attitude of flight. Once it had achieved this, Sam re-engaged the autopilot, the altitude readout now saying ten thousand feet and the airspeed readout saying 250 knots, and sat back in his seat, his hands shaking violently. A quick check of the radar screen showed that the third shadow plane was no where to be seen.
Dan did the same and no-one spoke for a long while before Elsa said, with a shaky tone of voice,
"What in the name of all that is holy was that?"
No-one responded to her question, just silence reigned in the cockpit. That was until yet another alert bleeped on the flight display.
Sam looked at the display and he froze. Not literally but with the goosebumps that raised on his skin, you could guess that was how he was feeling. But no, that was not the case.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Sam cursed.
"What?" Anna and Elsa both asked, concern in their voices.
Sam turned back to face his sisters, his eyes wide with the same terror he had shown when the shadow planes had sent their garbled radio message.
"We've just lost our main hydraulic system!"