Deadstick

GM: Pelmen
Players: Johnny, Molly, Simone
Synopsis: Runners of various purpose are on a small aircraft when something goes horribly, horribly wrong.
Date: Jan 31st, 2070


Sunday. It's a cool if not really cold day in Denver. The clouds promising some snow, perhaps. But that is not really your concern. Each of you is plagued by an very personal problem. Simone was hired by some guys that seem to have connections to the Klabauterbund, while Molly was surprised by some very nosey Yakuza's as she was away from the Warrens and her little bar. Johnny on the other hand, pro that he is, was offered by a friend to have a good pint of real self brewed beer. The end of this song was each of you ended in this damn airplane headed to the L.A. area. Molly as she did not like the feel of a Predator II pointing at her back and the Yaks were very insistent. And Simone to meet her Klabauterbund J. The situation is relatively relaxed in the airplane (well aside from Molly and that gun).

Johnny is relaxed in the private plane, one leg up over his knee, a hand holding a martini glass as he reads through a datapad holding the latest issue of 'Gentlemans Quarterly'. He's relaxed. He could, should he have to, defeat every guard on this plane in 3.4 seconds, punch a hole in the side wall then fall to the ground without being very injured, and that kind of personal understanding lends itself to a particular relaxation.

Settled into one of the seats Molly looks over her captors. She doesn't speak to them if spoken to. She remains quiet, her eyes narrowed a little in anger. Her hands remain resting on the arms of her chair during the flight.

Simone is perfectly comfortable flying, even pleased by it. She keeps her face glued to her window for a good part of the flight, taking in the clouds and the before-unseen terrain.

The flight is fine until it without a big prewarning either by obvious sights outside or a warning from the crew the airplan starts to buck and heave. In fact this could be felt like someone is in fact shaking it very hard. Anyone that is not belted will really regret it now, like that youth lout that has been troubling the cabin personal since start. Who right now falls into Molly's guard, knocking him out. There can be heard panicked activity from the cockpit and the cabin crew, falling around themselves, try to help those passengers in need, while non-fixed items fly around all of the airplane. One Predator II pistol among them.

Image Overlay:

Altimeter: 3,203 Feet
GPS Nav: 2 miles north of the Grand Canyon, Ute Nation
NA-FAA Weather Forcast: Projected clear and temperate.

Johnny sets the martini glass to the side, his orientation system snapping on and instantly tracking the objects in the cabin. Suitcase. Flotation device. Predator II. Datapad. He settles back in to his seat, secure in his fastenings. THe plane won't crash. Or, if it does, he will likely survive.

Her guard out for the moment, Molly sees her chance. She quickly unsnaps her belt and she stands from her seat. Years of rolling through high speed traffic has allowed her sense of balance to improve to supernatural levels. The rolling of the plane is something she can handle. Her eyes watch the gun as it moves, tracking its path and making plans to go after it once things level out.

Johnny comments… "If you try to use that gun and endanger this aircraft, I will be forced to stop reading this magazine, Miss." Offers Johnny, who at this time, has not introduced himself. "So while I will not stop you from trying to escape, be sure to do so in a fashion that doesn't exposively decompress my
airplane. It would be inconvenient."

Simone, tightly belted in, begins to jerk with the turbulence, letting out a small grunt from the pressure of the restraints. As she closes her eyes and takes on a slight avian cast, she slumps a bit in her seat. It may not be very noticeable with all the shit flying around in the cabin though.

"I'm far from stupid, sorry to disappoint you. I'm not planning to fire a gun in an aircraft because of A) Decompression and B) The oxygen mix may be a problem with open flame." She watches the gun move as Molly continues, "However, if that jackass comes to I might beat the sushi out of him with it."

"That, I would enjoy seeing." Says Johnny, shifting a bit to continue reading his datapad.

Some kind of lightning seems to play around the rear of that aircrafts tail, red lightning and the pannicked action in the cockpit suggests it is not positively affecting the aircraft. The aircraft is now definitely rolling around it's vertical axis, and loosing more height than is really good.
The quiet girl in the window seat remains still, keeping her eyes closed…

Johnny unbuckles his belt now. "Pardon me." He says, dropping the datapad in to the seat next to molly. "I think I'm needed in the cockpit." He says, then starts to move down the center isle. "We have a visitor outside. Please focus your spell casting out the right side window."
You paged Pelmen with 'Moving to the forward cabin and examining hte cockpit.'.

Simone turns to peer out the window again, looking for this 'visitor'. Her brows wrinkle in concern as she tries to find any immediate source of danger outside the plane.

Forgetting the gun for now, Molly retakes her seat and straps herself in. She looks in the direction of the wing and she says, "Fraggin' spirits."

Johnny moves his way down the center of the plane, seeming to use the rolling and pitching of the aircraft to his advantage.

The girl in the window seat calls out in a thick German accent, maybe due to shock, maybe to alert the passengers, "There's a drone on this side of the plane!" She looks around herself to start charting a clear path /away/ from the drone's vicinity.

Johnny eyes the cockpit. Pandimonium. The electronics are out, the compass is spinning, the manual backups are being worked at by the captain but the co-pilot is fully and completely freaking out. Johnny moves forward, one foot bracing off the back wall, his right hand slapping the side of the Co-Pilot's neck to render the man somulent. That done, Johnny moves him out of the co-pilots seat. "Your friend was stressed. He needed a nap. I find it helps when I'm stressed to get some rest." He says, moving the to take the seat. "Set flaps to 25 degrees, we need more lift. Angle the nose back up slightly and lets initiate a restart of the engines. We need electrical power to the avionics."

The captain nods to Johnny, "I was wanting to try that but I need both my hands to keep us /this/ stable. If you would be so kind to assist me with the controls, then I could try to restart the engines." He seems to waste no time on his knocked out copilot.

There's not really a lot Molly can do at the moment. She's not a crack pilot, she's not a mojo slinger and they're in a plane. She takes a few calming breaths as she draws in her focus. She looks around the plane to see if everyone, except for her captors is in good order.

Simone maintains her seat, hunching low and watching that fragging craft outside like a hawk. Her features are pointed, birdlike, especially with her black and white outfit, and she shimmers with a black glow. It's like the light around her is being turned into a glistening oil slick.

Johnny moves with the alacrity and calmness of a man who has been in this position before. "Check. I have the stick." he says simply, orienting himself with the flight controls. "Altitude as at 2,405 feet and falling at 10 FPS. Airspeed is 210 MPH and approaching stall speed. I am angling for the canyon itself for greater relative altitude."

Meanwhile in the cabin another situation develops as one of the passengers cries out in panic as he sees Johnny draggin the co-pilot out he knocks out one of the stewardesses in a mad dash, unbelting a gun in his hand all of a sudden.

Grasping the stick now, Johnny thanks god for the enhanced strength of his right arm. Without it, trying to fly this ship would be a much harder exercise. One hand on the yoke, he forces the flaps in to the position he needs, giving him a better glide profile, keeping them in the air longer. The downside is it creates more drag, slowing them down faster, which requires him to angle the nose down to create more gravity thrust. Which makes them fall faster. The difference though, is it's a controlled fall. A glide, as opposed to an OMGWEREALLGONNADIE!!!!

The flight smooths out conciderably as the Captains trys the restart proceedures and johnny controls the plane. "Airflow over the intakes is stablized captain, please proceed with restart." Says Johnny as the plane flies over the lip of the canyon. Altitude: 1800 feet. Real attitude: 5000 feet (To the colorado river). The Canyon is a very dangerous safety net.

God has granted Molly the serenity to accept the things she can't change. Often she has the courage to change the things she can and thankfully the wisdom to know the difference. In this case there is nothing she can change about the situation. The plane is in the control of other people, one of which may be a hijacker. She has no weapon and apparently the air marshal is on the way to deal with the situation. She remains in her seat, locked in and making note of where the flotation devices are.

The glowing bird-girl begins to concentrate on a few specks far, far in the distance… Then slumps over, her body limp and ineffective.
The captain seems to make some progress with the engines as the crazed passenger in the back starts to cry out, "Lemme outta here!" His trembling fingers gripping that gun in his hands haphazardly. The unconcious flight attendant at his feed being the first victim of an uncontrolled blast to her stomach.

Johnny flips on the PA. Battery power will allow it to function.. "THis is your co-pilot speaking. Would some enterprising passenger please stop whomever is firing that weapon? We are trying to control the aircraft and we find gunfire to be fairly distracting, not to mention it puts holes in our plane."

Without pause as the gun goes off, Molly unbuckles her belt and she vaults over her seat. Thankfully she had the mixed luck of the kid kicking the back of her seat. On the one hand they're annoying, on the other she doesn't have a fleshy obstruction to her line of movement. Swinging her foot around in a backwards axe kick she connects with the armed passenger knocking him back into her seat. She says in a even tone, "Drop the gun, or I drop you."

"Hows that restart coming, captain?" Asks Johnny as he dead-sticks the airplane. Now only 1400 feet over the lip of the Canyon, the plane is still falling rapidly, but with control. He is no longer 'in' the plane. He's a mile in front of it, planning the next move, the next action. Looking for thermal-sign and trying to keep tha plane as level as possible while manouvering it.

The captain curses as one of the vital engine connectors seems to malfunction he feverishly works to bypass the seemingly damaged element. He still is cool enough to talk to Johnny, obviously having an eye on Johnny ploting his course. He says, "Your doing good mate, I'm working as quick as this shit lets me…seems there is some elements damaged by whatever hit us." There is a loud crash heard outside the right side of the aircraft as a fireball appears where seemingly an aircraft had been. The positive effect, being that the red lighting stops. And the magnetic compass again points directions. The bad part, the engines are still off.

The other good news is, that the crazed passenger snaps out of his craze after that strike. The bad news. That attendant is bleeding hellish.

"Try a de-gausing of the onboard computers. If that doesn't work, dump everything but the fly by wire systems. If you can get those restarted, I can assume direct neural control." He pauses then, spotting the air turbulence ahead… He flips the PA system back on and speaks in that super-calm 'air captain voice'.

"THis is your co pilot speaking. if you look out to the left side, you'll see the High desert. If you look out to the right, you will see the colorado river and the grand canyon. If you want to live, you will buckle your seat belt now. You will stay out of the cockpit. And you will stop shooting people. We are about to experience heavy turbulence as we encounter the air flow from the Grand Canyon. I assure you, this turbulence, tho bad, is softer than hitting the ground."

With the woman bleeding on the deck, Molly says to a woman next to her, "Put pressure on the wound," as that is what's usually said on the trid. She looks around and starts towards the attendant cabin. She keeps her breathing even trying to keep herself focused and centered.
The captain works feverishly to get those engines back to work, One circuti fails the degauss fails, the second circuit goes up in flames, even needing a real extinguishing. The captain still keeps a cool head offering Johnny a few options on the route to keep the aircraft out of the worst turbulences as he uses the extinguisher. Then he focuses again on the tech stuff. The Passenger propted by Molly does as asked, even if the lookin her eyes shows she is not really feeling well as she does that. Her face deadly pale. In the Attendance cabin Molly finds the looked for medkit.

As she pushes her way into the attendants cabin. "Need medical attention, lady has a stomach wound," says Molly as she looks around for a medkit. She looks over her shoulder to make sure there's nothing getting worse as far as the passengers go.

The turbulence starts now. A heavy, jarring, bumping thing from below. The plane is skimming now, along the envelope of the air-swirl from the bottom of the canyon, a vaguely circular pattern of air as it rises, cools, and falls again. Johnny grunts now, then flips the PA back on. "If any shaman or Magi are available with Air Elementals or Wind Spirits, now would be a very good time to provide an assist." He flips the PA back off, focusing on keeping the plane on its trajectory.

"Mayday, Mayday, this is Arcata Charter 302. We have engines out, paranormal attack over the Grand Canyon. We are attempting a restart but will likely be down in the Canyon."

The other attendant offers the medkit, but it is too obvious, she is not going to be able to move in those turbulences to assist. Meanwhile in the cabin a more active passenger took hold of the wounded flight attendant. Belting her to a seat. The woman holdign her before vomitting her guts out. The captain works with a tinge of desperation now as you are fast approaching the canyons depths. Some people like that kinda look at the canyon … in a working machine.

"You're doing fine Captain." Murmurs Johnny as he wrenches the plane around a massive pillar of stone, barely clearing it's top as the plane decends further. "Keep it together. We need you to get out of this alive. We can do this. You're doing fine… We all have faith in you. What are you overlooking? What's preventing the engine restart? We have time. Relax and think it through…."

Grabbing the medkit Molly says, "Thanks," and she turns from the room heading back towards the wounded woman on the floor. She moves as casually as if she were walking down the street. Once there she kneels down next to the woman and opens the medkit, booting up the auto-doctor.

The right engine starts to hum as the captain finally seems to get close to his aim, the man works with some manual controls to get the machine to enough RPM'S to support power to the other engines and off course the needed lift to get out of this alife.

The captain keeps it cool and to his own surprise all of a sudden all engines restart as the generators go into full power. The machine at once making a jump upwards.

Fingers quickly dance over the keyboard of the auto doc Molly programs in gunshot wound to the stomach. The machine cheerfully describes the process needed to keep the woman alive. Molly takes out the equipment and she gets to work. She keeps her eyes on the lady, watching her blood pressure on the machine's display.

Johnny slaps his datajack in to place, and in a nanosecond of painful, disorienting sensory input, becomes the aircraft.

Engines become his heart, wings become his arms and fuel becomes his blood. He enriches the fuel feed, opening the air intakes as much as possible and turning the RPM's as high as they can go. The result is a massive return of thrust to the plane, more air over the wings, more lift generated… and for the first time in several minutes, a gain in altitude and a return of power.

"This is your plane speaking. Everyone hold on. We've got power, but now we have to get out of the canyon. We are going to make for flagstaff airport after that. SO please. No one lose their shit."

Now one with the plane, Johnny feels the sensors flood his perception. Radar snaps on, GPS and air speed. All these things he had to take effort to note before are suddenly as natural as walking. The thrust roars as he wings to the right to put him in a position to pass Shiva's Temple on the left, a towering 1200 foot spire of rock. "To your left, you will see the Temple of Shiva, so named for the pyramids butte at the top of the formation, which seen from the south rim, looks like a temple. We are now climbing out of the canyon. SMooth flight will resume in 24 seconds."

Once the patient is stabilized Molly nods her head and checks the woman's name. She gives the lady pain killers and she says, "You'll be fine Hope." She bends the needles and puts them in the sharps container on the medkit and she tells the guy who did the shooting, "Just saved you from a murder rap." She pulls off the latex gloves she was wearing and disposes of them inside the kit and folds it up. She walks towards the guy who kidnapped her and kneels down next to him, opening the kit.

As the aircraft regains some stability as power is back on the engines, not to mention the cybernetic controlling, the other attendand joins Molly in her first aid efforts and soon the wounded woman rests cared for in that seat, breathing more easily. The captain resuming his seat and jacking in too. He bows to Johnny. "Thanks. That was a damn tight pitch. Your a real cool dog are you? I'm Jonathon, Jonathong Bates.", he says with real appreciation in this voice as the aircraft rises out of the canyon. Then he speaks to air control, "This Arcata Charter 302. Captain Bates speaking. We solved our problems. Awaiting routes to realign with regular traffic."

Johnny jacks out of the aircraft, turning control to the captain. He looks over to the man then, shaking his head. "You did this on your own after your co pilot was incapacitated. I was never here. Do you understand me, Captain?" He asks very quietly, very levelly. "I don't want attention."

The captain nods with an understanding grin. "I'll shurely not opose to get all the glory. Still, if you ever need a hand…", he says handign yu his card. "Even if no one else will ever know it, I know who I owe my life to.",he says.

In the cabin meanwhile the Yaks start to stir again.

Johnny nods to the Captain as he straightens his tie. "I will be in touch, Mr. Bates." Johnny turns then for the cabin, moving back to his seat.

Pulling a pair of tranq patches from the medkit, Molly slaps them on her kidnapper's throats and she pulls them back into their seats. She folds up the medkit and she heads into the attendant's cabin to replace the kit.

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