Enneagon

Chapter 14: The First Call

Guess who's been watching Youtube videos on how air controllers speak?

Me. Lol.

Y'all better enjoy haha

To Cactopus: I have not seen anything Studio Ghibli sadly. I've been trying to watch Kiki's Delivery Service but can't find it anywhere :(

…

[Brioxian Airspace]

[10.4.2065]

Hollyleaf's hands were shaking. There was a panic attack brewing right below the surface and she knew it, and it was all she could do to keep the impending breakdown at bay. Situations like this would bring anyone to pieces, and it wouldn't be long before a cool, collected mind could make or break everything.

No, Hollyleaf couldn't let herself succumb to the fear. Not when so many of her classmates were already long gone.

The men had gone less than five minutes ago, but Hollyleaf could already hear the beginnings of collapse. Sobbing, quiet whimpering. Someone had begun yelling at anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. Sedgewhisker was throwing up onto the floor.

Despite the panic, the ship hung stationary in the clouds, unmoving from the spot it had been in when the pilot had died. It only rocked slightly from side to side, like a rubber ducky in the calm waters of a bathtub.

They were stuck. With no one to steer the shuttle, the craft would simply hang in Brioxian airspace unless a passing ship came to tow them away. Around her, her classmates began banging on the windows, screaming and waving, every time another ship came by.

Distantly, logically, she knew there wasn't any point.

Any passing ship would see nothing out of the ordinary, a shuttle hanging in space, and would think that the pilot had stopped for a nap. No one would come close enough to see the desperate faces pressed up to the glass, nor see the hands waving for help.

Now good advice was hard to come by. What to do? The shuttle was small, not intended for long journeys. The trip from Brioxian airspace to the United States hadn't been intended to last longer than five hours. The ship wasn't supplied enough food, nor water, to last all of them longer than maybe a day.

Hollyleaf twisted a hank of hair between her fingers, nervously picking at the strands. None of their cell phones would work, not up in the air with no cell reception to speak of.

It was then that the lifesaving idea came to her, and Hollyleaf could've kicked herself- of course!

The shuttle must have its own communication systems, it had to contact air traffic control and other aircraft somehow.

"Stars, I'm dumb", she muttered to herself, scanning the room. There, on the other side of the shuttle's cabin, she picked out Ivypool's platinum-blond head. If there was anyone else on board who would be guaranteed to have her shit together, it was Ivypool, and Hollyleaf knew she'd need all the help she could get.

"Ivypool!", she called over her classmates' heads, waving at her friend for added effect, "Come here for a minute!"

Even from across the cabin, Hollyleaf could see Ivypool's pale brows shoot up on her forehead. Then, the blondine picked her way carefully past her classmates, cautiously avoiding someone curled up on the floor. When she had finally reached Hollyleaf, her face was grim. Her lips were set into a pressed line, her eyes narrow.

"What a fine mess this is", was the first thing out of her mouth, every bit as sarcastic and biting as Hollyleaf had come to associate with Ivypool. Hollyleaf couldn't help but smile. At least Ivypool was still fully herself.

"Another day, another kidnapping", Hollyleaf responded in kind. Her voice came out even and steady, almost bored. Here Ivypool grinned toothy reassurance, then said, "I take it the genius Hollyleaf has a plan?"

Hollyleaf gestured to the door of the cockpit, which the ginger kidnapper had unceremoniously jammed shut behind him.

"Bet."

…

It had taken the pair of them to move the pilot's corpse out of the seat and onto the floor. There, they'd left him propped up against a wall in as dignified a position that they could manage.

Ivypool was terrifying, Hollyleaf thought, making a mental note to never, ever piss her off. She'd moved the bloody corpse without so much as batting an eyelash. Clearly blood and gore didn't bother her in the slightest.

Then, acting as though she hadn't just been moving a dead body, Ivypool wiped her bloody hands on her sweatpants and turned to the dashboard which now lay before them as a blinking mass of switches and lights.

"The radio", Ivypool repeated, wonderingly. "Wow. I can't believe I didn't think of that."

Great StarClan, this girl.

Hollyleaf shook her head fondly then gingerly lowered herself into the pilot's seat, taking care to avoid a particularly nasty bloodstain. "Right", Hollyleaf said awkwardly. "Now we just need to…uh…find the radio."

The two of them gave the blinking and whirring dashboard another glance.

…

[Blacking Valley International Airport, Yecateryn, Briox]

[10.4.2065]

The morning had been calm until then. Tower Control at Blacking Valley International had guided 142 flights onto the runway so far already: all in all, an uneventful morning.

That was, until an unidentified communication request came in from a craft that was miles out of Blacking Valley's airspace.

It was with apprehension that the air traffic controller accepted the requested, straining to hear what was coming in over the radio. There was the sound of the hushed, muffled whispers of what sounded like two teenage girls. Then, after giving the two girls some ten seconds to sort themselves out, the air traffic controller spoke into the silence.

"Unidentified aircraft, Blacking Valley Tower. Do you copy?"

There was a squeak on the other end, then the sound as though the other girl had grabbed the microphone.

"Hi", she said, rather brusquely. "Is this air traffic control?"

The air traffic controller, sitting up in surprise, tapped on his headset as though he wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. Then he repeated himself. "Unidentified aircraft, Blacking Valley Tower. Please identify yourself."

Over the headset, he heard the other girl hiss, "Well Ivypool, I think that answers your question."

Then- Ivypool, as her name was- spoke again. "Blacking Valley Tower, our pilot's dead. And four of our classmates have just been kidnapped."

Now the air traffic controller really wasn't sure if he was dreaming, and dropping the coded speak of his profession, he sputtered, "You- what?"

…

[Hexagon Academy, Briox]

[10.4.2065]

When Firestar sat down in his desk chair that morning, it'd been a morning like any other. Cold and gray, with the steely glint of the sun piercing through thick wisps of clouds. It illuminated his new office in a wash of chilly white, casting a frosty look over the unfriendly desk and the sharp-edged walls.

After inheriting Bluestar's old office, Firestar found he didn't like it.

The office he'd had before had been small and cosy, tucked away into a comfortable corner. It'd been full of books and pictures of students, with a nice wide desk and a big comfy chair.

Bluestar's office, on the other hand, looked like an IKEA display window. He took his place at her glass desk, sat in her stiff leather swivel chair, and mentally prepared himself for another day of paperwork drudgery.

He'd just been in the process of opening his binders when the phone gave a shrill ring.

Probably another angry parent, calling about one thing or another.

Firestar scrubbed a hand tiredly over his face, put on his best customer-service voice, and picked up the phone. He'd been halfway through his customary "Hello, this is Firestar, head of Hexagon speaking" when he quite abruptly realized that this was not an angry parent.

"Hello, Hexagon", came the voice over the phone. There was some degree of unpleasant gloating to it, as though the person on the other end was smiling nastily while speaking.

From the first two words out the man's mouth, Firestar disliked him off the bat, but maintained his customer-service voice as though he was speaking to a parent.

"Yes, sir. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Firestar, right? You should probably check on your students, Firestar. You might find that something isn't quite in the ordinary."

There was a horrid jolt somewhere in the region of his stomach, and Firestar suddenly felt as though his blood was being flooded with antifreeze.

An awful, dawning sense of déjà vu.

"I'll give you a moment to process that, I think", the voice over the phone said, with pretentious airs of faux-concern. "One hour. Then I'll call again."

Then, the voice at the other end of the line was gone, leaving just a faint beeping intoning from the phone's speaker. Firestar threw the phone back onto its receiver with unnecessary force.

The man over the phone had been anything but clear. But even as he sat pondering the possibilities, Firestar knew deep, deep down exactly what he had meant.

For the second time in a year, his students were in danger.

In that instant, Firestar abruptly decided to stop wasting time. He reached for the phone, laying tipped over on its side, and dialed the number for the main office.

"Headmaster? What can we do for you?", came the puzzled voice of the secretary over the phone.

"I need to implement a full lockdown", Firestar rasped. The words stung in his throat, as though he was speaking through sandpaper. "Stop all teaching and attend to the students. I'm afraid…something has gone horribly wrong."

End Chapter 14

Look at Firestar being responsible :)) To be fair, Bluestar kinda set a low bar.