Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)As the plane landed safely on the runway Lilian Baxter took a deep breath and sighed in relief. Despite having well over 400 flights under her belt, the 23 year old flight attendant was always a bit nervous during the landing. As a member of the flight personal she had extended knowledge about the dangers and odds of possible accidents during start and landing of a plane. Especially when the airport and its runways were in decline, as was this one. As scheduled Air Duhvana Flight 334 touched down on the International Airport of Dabali City, the capitol of the Republic of Karanga. The country was buried deep in the heart of Africa and was far from uncontroversial. Since its leader, Supreme Commander of Karanga, General Yazid Sangala had taken power via a coup d'etat the international community was constantly arguing over the right approach to the small african country. Violations of human rights were publicly known and any form of opposition was rigorously punished. Yet the richness of resources made the dictatorship an important player on the global diamond and oil market, which in turn appealed to ruthless companies that were keen to exploit the treasures buried deep in the soil of the african continent. Like other dictatorships, the Republic of Karanga had a leader who was obsessed with himself and displayed his power as much as he could. Statues, posters and propaganda via the radio were quite normal for the landscape of country. Though the airport was far from up to par, the leverage General Yazid had for his foreign relations, mainly the oil and diamond exports, made the airport a key player on the dark continent. Many prestigious airlines were using the airport of Dabali City for refueling and as a hub for further flights to Africa. One of those airlines was Air Duhvana, an arabic airline founded by some oil prince. Lilian had had been hired two years earlier and so far had been to many exciting places in the world, which made her endure the less exciting places like the Republic of Karanga.
Amongst the flight personal this was viewed with mixed feelings. The Republic of Karanga made absurd demands of everyone who was entering their airspace. Elaborate surveys had to be answered by everyone and Lilian, or Lily as her friends and colleagues called her remembered the day when she had filled out her questionnaire. After having answered some reasonable questions like her height, which was 5'2 feet, she went on to answer question about her weight, her birthplace, eye colour, the lists of countries she had visited and more questions that made sense. There was however an extended section of question about her political views which she had answered in a way that she hoped would satisfy the authorities in Karanga. Alas, the trouble did not stopped there. In a sheer endless search for opposition the authorities behaved ridiculously at times and would enter the planes that were just refueling from time to time to search for suspicious people or items. She remembered that once a passenger had been escorted of the plane and she had wondered what had happened to him, but asking questions was not recommended when dealing with the karangan police. The same was valid for criticizing the regime and Lily smart enough to refrain from that when she was on flights to or from Karanga. On other occasions though she had gossiped freely with her colleagues. Everybody knew that the country was a shithole that treated their people like animals and the leader was a paranoid egomaniac who had clearly lost his grip on reality. The slender flight attendant with the raven black hair was always happy to leave the country behind.
However now that Flight 334 had made its landing they were slowly rolling towards the gate. Lilian unfastened her seatbelt and got up, straightened her uniform, though she had left her jacket and her hat in a compartment over her seat, wearing only a white blouse and the skirt. She picked up the receiver of the intercom and started speaking: "Dear passengers, we have landed as scheduled on the International Airport of Dabali City. This is a refueling stop and we would like to ask you to remain in your seats. The refueling should not take more than 20 minutes and after that we will take off again on our way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Thank you for choosing Air Duhvana, we hope you have a pleasant flight. She put down the receiver and went back to the area where all the flight attendants were gathering to chat. The tension was clearly felt by all of them as everyone was wondering if this would be one of the stops that would go down easily or if the authorities would enter the plane once more for their absurd safety concerns.
Lily watched the pilot coming back from the outside and with relief noticed that there was no one behind him as he closed the cabin door. "Looks like we can finally take off", he mumbled and went back to the cockpit. The following announcement was made by another flight attendant and the young woman with the jet black hair settled down into her seat, putting on the seatbelt. The plane started to roll backwards and a few minutes later they were ready for take off and lined up on the runway. Lily took a deep breath and waited for the thrust that would push her into her seat. She waited and waited, but the engines would not rev up and with each second that was passing by, the nervousness was growing inside her. Then the engines turned off and the stewardess on the other side of the cabin exchanged a dark look with Lilian. "What happened?", she asked but how was Lily supposed to know? She looked around waiting for the captain to ring the intercom or make an announcement but nothing happened and another minute went by. Finally the cockpit door opened again and with an angry face the captain came out cursing agitatedly. "A FUCKING TANK? HAVE THEY LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS?" His voice was carrying into the first class and Lily could hear the whispering amongst the passengers. "What do you mean a tank?" She asked the captain confused and started to undo her seatbelt once more.
Amongst the flight personal this was viewed with mixed feelings. The Republic of Karanga made absurd demands of everyone who was entering their airspace. Elaborate surveys had to be answered by everyone and Lilian, or Lily as her friends and colleagues called her remembered the day when she had filled out her questionnaire. After having answered some reasonable questions like her height, which was 5'2 feet, she went on to answer question about her weight, her birthplace, eye colour, the lists of countries she had visited and more questions that made sense. There was however an extended section of question about her political views which she had answered in a way that she hoped would satisfy the authorities in Karanga. Alas, the trouble did not stopped there. In a sheer endless search for opposition the authorities behaved ridiculously at times and would enter the planes that were just refueling from time to time to search for suspicious people or items. She remembered that once a passenger had been escorted of the plane and she had wondered what had happened to him, but asking questions was not recommended when dealing with the karangan police. The same was valid for criticizing the regime and Lily smart enough to refrain from that when she was on flights to or from Karanga. On other occasions though she had gossiped freely with her colleagues. Everybody knew that the country was a shithole that treated their people like animals and the leader was a paranoid egomaniac who had clearly lost his grip on reality. The slender flight attendant with the raven black hair was always happy to leave the country behind.
However now that Flight 334 had made its landing they were slowly rolling towards the gate. Lilian unfastened her seatbelt and got up, straightened her uniform, though she had left her jacket and her hat in a compartment over her seat, wearing only a white blouse and the skirt. She picked up the receiver of the intercom and started speaking: "Dear passengers, we have landed as scheduled on the International Airport of Dabali City. This is a refueling stop and we would like to ask you to remain in your seats. The refueling should not take more than 20 minutes and after that we will take off again on our way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Thank you for choosing Air Duhvana, we hope you have a pleasant flight. She put down the receiver and went back to the area where all the flight attendants were gathering to chat. The tension was clearly felt by all of them as everyone was wondering if this would be one of the stops that would go down easily or if the authorities would enter the plane once more for their absurd safety concerns.
Lily watched the pilot coming back from the outside and with relief noticed that there was no one behind him as he closed the cabin door. "Looks like we can finally take off", he mumbled and went back to the cockpit. The following announcement was made by another flight attendant and the young woman with the jet black hair settled down into her seat, putting on the seatbelt. The plane started to roll backwards and a few minutes later they were ready for take off and lined up on the runway. Lily took a deep breath and waited for the thrust that would push her into her seat. She waited and waited, but the engines would not rev up and with each second that was passing by, the nervousness was growing inside her. Then the engines turned off and the stewardess on the other side of the cabin exchanged a dark look with Lilian. "What happened?", she asked but how was Lily supposed to know? She looked around waiting for the captain to ring the intercom or make an announcement but nothing happened and another minute went by. Finally the cockpit door opened again and with an angry face the captain came out cursing agitatedly. "A FUCKING TANK? HAVE THEY LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS?" His voice was carrying into the first class and Lily could hear the whispering amongst the passengers. "What do you mean a tank?" She asked the captain confused and started to undo her seatbelt once more.
