Until Fairer Skies Beckon

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 21

Someone hammered on the door of the bunkhouse just before dawn.

Rainbow had just been putting her shoes on to go check on the watermelon fence hole and cursed the timing. Had she been found out?

She got up, but the door was thrown open before anyone could answer it.

Connor Clash walked in, stopping in the doorway. “Pack up. We’re leaving.”

“Leaving?” said Rainbow dumbly.

Clash didn’t elaborate, turning to walk out.

The others were just getting up. “What the hell is he talking about?” said Pug.

None of them knew, but it seemed like a bad idea to do anything to draw Clash’s ire.

Fortunately, Rainbow had next to nothing to pack up. She trooped out of the building with the others. Unsure of where they were going, it seemed prudent to wait for further instructions.

There were a group of soldiers clustered around the fence and Rainbow’s heart sank. They must have found the hole.

But, as she watched, the crowd parted enough for her to see the damage. Eyes widening, she bumped the elbows of the two people standing closest to her. “Look!”

The watermelon vines had twisted the chain link apart, spreading it open like an arched green gateway big enough to walk through. It looked too perfect to have occurred naturally, not to mention the speed in which the plants had grown. How such a thing could have happened overnight...well, Rainbow was convinced the answer could only be magic.

But who was doing it? If they had that kind of power, why not help the prisoners directly? Rainbow considered the other strange events she’d witnessed. Could any of them be attributed to outside intervention?

The C-130 came in for a landing. After parking, the tailgate opened and people started loading it up.

Clash came back. “We’re moving to a different base,” he said.

Surely it wasn’t just because of the hole in the fence. Though, Rainbow supposed, the UTA had also probably noticed a few of the other strange goings-on. In fact, having kept the pilots in the dark as much as possible, they might know more than she did.

The idea that they might be getting jumpy because of magic in the air was a small comfort. Though, Rainbow still didn’t know how it was happening, or who was responsible. She also still wasn’t sure how to actively use it herself.

The C-130 left first. Wind Rider corralled the pilots. They had to preflight their own aircraft; the ground crews had already gone.

Once airborne, Rainbow saw that the SA-6 launchers were gone. Tracks across the savannah pointed west, the same direction they flew.

She was acutely aware that the relocation put her further from possible rescue. Was that part of why they had been sent somewhere else?

“Why are we moving?” she tried on the radio.

“Orders,” said Wind Rider. “The diamonds dried up or something. Pretty suddenly, from what I heard.”

Rainbow realized he must be referring to a mine the UTA owned. “But what do diamonds have to do with us?”

“It’s not the only thing,” Wind Rider said, but didn’t expound.

Rainbow figured the answer was probably a combination of the bust mine, to make the pilots escaping less likely, or maybe the UTA was freaking out a little more than they showed about the magic incidents.

The group left Manatada air base behind, heading for parts unknown.

---

The flight was short. Rainbow estimated they traveled thirty miles nearly due west. On the way, they passed over the tracked SA-6 vehicles. Could they shoot while moving?

She shook her head. For the short flight, they’d been given next to no fuel. She’d never get away after an attack, even if it was successful.

An airfield appeared. It almost looked too small. The runway was shorter, but there were far fewer buildings.

“What is this place?” said Pug.

Wind Rider did not reply, instead giving orders for the landing.

As Rainbow touched down, she got on the brakes harder and earlier, mindful of the shorter runway. She turned off, and spotted Soarn’ waving. She followed him to a hangar.

It was...small. They might be able to fit the same couple of jets into each one, but it would be tight.

“What’s this place like?” Rainbow said as she stepped down.

“There’s no fence,” said Soarin’. “No accommodations. They said we’re sleeping here and there’ll be guards outside.”

“What, on the concrete with the jets? I don’t see any bedding. How long is this supposed to last?”

“I get the feeling it wasn’t temporary.”

The bed and the bunkhouse, terrible, smelly, and soiled as they were, at least gave Rainbow a place to sleep that wasn’t the floor with spare clothes for a pillow.

The Flyers Club, and the base inside the fence, was effectively a prison, but at least it was better than being shut inside a hangar.

Rainbow snorted. If she was concerned about her quality of life, then apparently it hadn’t been bad enough. Like she cared where she slept when she was still being held by a warlord army. Priorities.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Okay, that sucks but better than nothing.

[Neece]

Magic is giving her a way out. Repeatedly. But she stays, out of Loyalty. That's bound to work in her favor, sooner or later.

[jarrad96]

Huh. Doing some research on it and it seems the SA-6 (or at least the older models) cannot fire while moving, despite being a standalone launcher- however that does aid the set up/deploy time so I suppose they could hit the brakes and quickly prep to fire if needed.

Also, they are rather slow moving, and had not been mentioned being at the makeshift airfield by the time the pilots land, which could come it in handy if the infantry bigger off for a bit ;)

[Profesionalac]

8335791
And they can't aim well they have a single hit kill rate of 0.7, meaning setting up quick does not help with aim.