Until Fairer Skies Beckon

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 1

The first thing Rainbow noticed was a splitting headache.

Either that, or someone had axe-murdered her in her sleep. Really, it felt like either one of those was plausible.

She groaned and shifted her head, which for some reason was lying crooked at an angle. She was sitting upright, and everything seemed to be vibrating. A horrible noise was boring into her ears and she raised her hands to cover them. She missed a couple of times before managing to get her hands into the right position. But now, even the gentle touch of her hands on her head hurt. What had Rainbow done to deserve this?

She opened her eyes to slits. Her multicolored hair fell in front of her eyes and she brushed it away with her fingertips. She was sitting in a seat made of mesh draped over a metal frame. Her shoes rested on a perforated metal floor. There were people sitting to either side and also in a line across from her.

Rainbow closed her eyes and tried to force her brain to work. The answer came to her suddenly and she snapped her eyes open again, immediately regretting it. Why was she on a cargo plane?

She squinted again, looking around. There were perhaps a hundred people on the plane, plus a few crates strapped to the center of the floor. Most of the other passengers were men. Most of them looked bored.

But again, what was Rainbow doing here? She tried to remember.

Nothing came to mind. Looking down, she was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Yesterday? Well, that was a start. She’d gone out to have some fun on a Friday after classes. And then...blackout.

What had she done?

Grimacing against the noise and the pounding in her head, she turned to the nearest person and shouted above the noise, “Where are we!?”

He shrugged.

Rainbow looked around. None of the others seemed particularly interested in her question. She turned back to the man who’d already declined conversation once. “Surely you must have some idea!”

He said something offhand, though whatever it was fell below the noise of the engines. “What?” Rainbow shouted.

He looked annoyed now. He put his hand on the back of her neck and dragged her close. His lips to her ear, she finally heard him say, “Atlantic, somewhere.”

“What!? Why!?”

The man sat back and looked away, crossing his arms.

Rainbow stared at him. She looked around. No one else met her eyes.

She struggled to get up, swaying on her feet, and promptly fell. Her jeans protected her knees, but she decided not to stand again. Instead, she crawled forward on the dirty floor. She could feel the eyes of everyone else on the plane watching her.

Forward of her seat was a side door with a window smaller than her face. Reaching it, Rainbow hauled herself up. The light nearly blinded her, but she squinted through it.

There was nothing outside but sky and sea.

Rainbow tried to put her thoughts in order. The sun rises in the east in the morning, and we’re flying this way, and it’s...morning?

She fumbled for her cell phone. It wasn’t there. She dug in her other pocket. It was empty, too.

Panic crashed over her like a tidal wave, rose up in her throat like-

-no, that was vomit. Rainbow heaved so hard her forehead bounced off the window. Puke sprayed down the door and all over her feet. There wasn’t much in her stomach, but it all tasted bad.

“Ugh, oh damnit.” She looked around. Everyone else was back to ignoring her. There was nothing she could use to clean up the mess.

Rainbow swallowed and tried to force the taste out of her mouth. At least she felt marginally better, even if the headache remained. Steadying herself on the fuselage wall, she made her way forward.

Out the window, she’d seen the distinctive high wing and turboprops that made her guess that this must be a C-130. The versatile airlifter had been around for more than fifty years and could be found in nearly any country in the world. What Rainbow was doing aboard one was still a mystery.

She’d been training to be a professional pilot, making it her college major, but nothing could have prepared her for this. How had she gotten on the plane if she was so blacked out she was still having trouble walking? Why had they even let her? This didn’t look like a passenger ride at all.

Maybe the pilots could tell her. She kept going forward, reaching the cockpit door. Rainbow put out a hand, but the knob wouldn’t turn. She jiggled it and then banged a fist on the door. “Hey!”

It only then occurred to her that doing so might not be a good idea. Airline passengers had been tackled for less. But looking around, this sure didn’t look like an airline.

Nobody opened the door, even after Rainbow banged again. Nonplussed, she turned and slowly stumbled back in the direction of her seat, but out of the corner of her eye noticed that something was different outside.

Stepping gingerly, she went to the window again. Now, the view below was of thick trees, grass, and red dirt. There was no civilization to be seen.

She stayed there for a long time, desperately searching for something that would tell her where she was. But it was not to be. Rainbow gave up, going back to her seat to sit and close her eyes.

She wished she could sleep, but her head hurt too much. So she endured.

Hours passed. Rainbow had no way of telling time, but it had to be hours.

When the pitch of the engines changed, Rainbow’s head shot up, setting loose another wave of pain. Her condition had steadily been improving, but the diminished headache still remained and now she was also hungry.

She was tempted to go to the window, but instead clung to her seat as the plane went into a steep spiral. She nearly threw up again before it leveled out and came in for a bumpy landing on rough pavement.

The plane taxied off the runway and came to a stop. People started getting up. The rear door opened, folding its ramp down to the ground.

Rainbow shuffled off with the crowd, squinting in the afternoon sun. The air was humid, and hotter than it should have been. It was only spring.

She looked around. Aside from the airstrip, there were a few hangers and other airplanes parked within sight. There was no control tower. In the distance, she could see other buildings, probably not aviation-related.

Her eyes widened at the variety of smaller planes around the airport. Propeller planes, helicopters, jets. Her mouth dropped open when she realized that some of them were definitely armed.

Someone grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “What’s your name?” he demanded. He was a foot taller than her and she had to look up.

“Rainbow Dash.”

He pushed her back towards the plane. “Clean up that mess.”

“With what?” she asked, but the man was already gone.

Rainbow did feel responsible, though, and tentatively stepped onto the C-130’s tailgate. She spotted a pilot coming out of the cockpit and walked towards him. “Hey, can you help me? I need a rag or something.”

He looked at her for a moment, and then shook his head. “No. Get off the plane.”

“But I was supposed to-”

He pushed her gently back down the ramp and then pointed over her shoulder towards a squat building on the far side of the parking apron. “Go there.”

Utterly confused once more, Rainbow followed his directions. Approaching the building, she saw someone had hand-painted Flyers Club above the door.

Stepping inside, she was greeted with utter squalor. There were a few pieces of furniture, all of it mismatched, a table, another table that might once have been a ping pong setup, debris, dirty clothing, and various grades of reading material scattered around. It smelled like unwashed bodies and tobacco.

There were a few people already present who looked up at her with interest. One of them was a woman with short golden hair. She got up and came over. She was wearing a ragged flight suit. So were the rest, Rainbow noticed.

“Fresh meat, huh?” she said, eyes running up and down Rainbow’s body, taking in her t-shirt, faux leather jacket, jeans, Converse high tops, and the puke all over it all.

“I’m Lightning Dust,” the woman said, putting out a hand. She might have been Rainbow’s age.

“Where am I?” Rainbow asked.

“Talongo.”

“Ta-Africa!?” Rainbow had heard the name of the small country before, somewhere. She knew what continent it was on, but that was about it.

“You didn’t know?”

“No! I only woke up on the plane, I didn’t mean to come here. This is a huge mistake!”

Rainbow spun on her heel and went back out the door. She fast-walked back across the apron to where the men she’d ridden with were unloading the plane. The big man who’d told her to clean up the puke was easy to spot and she reached up to tap him on the shoulder.

“Hey! I’m not supposed to be here! Why didn’t you tell me? I need to get home. I didn’t consent to-”

He hit her in the face with a right cross that she saw coming but her hangover left her powerless to stop. It lifted her completely clear of the ground and sent her sprawling on the concrete.

Everyone nearby laughed.

“She’s new,” called Lightning, arriving just then. She bent down to Rainbow, who was holding her head again.

“What’s happening?” Rainbow whispered.

“You just have to survive.” Lightning touched the patch on her flight suit, which had a constellation of stars on a black sky. “Until fairer skies beckon.”

Author's Note:

This story shares a similar concept to the anime Area 88, but nothing beyond that.

Title suggested by Jarimor

Thanks for reading.

Comments

[Profesionalac]

Tolongo? Didn't I say we should do it in a Congo based nation?