Ocean Mix Up

[Kolhar]

1 Kestal 1206 (1 December 2022)
North of Kolhar
9:07 AM

"Climbing flight level two eight zero, Kolhar 132." Captain Kaidal Taliq answered ATC as they got clearance to go higher. So far the flight was uneventful. Their A330-300 was slowly climbing to their cruising altitude of 31,000 feet. If all went well Kolhar Airways flight 132 would be well on their way to Belleville, Florentia. The flight was unusually packed today, but that wasn't surprising to anyone who was in the know.

"We're almost out of the woods, aren't we?" Masan Harib, the first officer on this flight, chimed in. "We probably shouldn't be running this flight, you know."

"I know," Kaidal answered. "But corporate insisted. Something about 'orders from higher up' or whatever. Probably the Party being stupid again." It wasn't a good idea to be running flights right after a war had broken out. People knew that. The party could try to hide it all they want, but Kaidal knew better than to think so just by the kinds of people that were taking these flights. He had seen extremely wealthy Kolhari citizens taking economy class tickets. For them to be that desperate to get out of Kolhar could mean only one thing.

"Hey, don't forget we're on tape." Masan responded, referring to the cockpit voice recorder. Kaidal knew why he mentioned that. If anything happened and the Party took a look at the CVR, they would be in trouble.

"True, let's just focus on flying right now." Kaidal said. That was the end of the conversation as the two of them started focusing on flying the plane once again.

---

Cruising altitude over the seas. Things were going smoothly. The two pilots were settling in for yet another uneventful flight, and things were looking up for them.

Suddenly Kaidal noticed a warning on the displays.

"Flight transponder malfunction?" Kaidal said aloud. The transponder was displaying an error code, one that seemed to indicate it wasn't sending out any data.

"Let's try resetting it." Masan suggested. Kaidal nodded and hit the button to contact atc back in Kolhar.

"Vakor tower. Kolhar 132. We are having a flight transponder problem and are going to reset it now. Could you let us know if that fixes it?"

---

"Unknown aircraft, this is Kolhari frigate Simnaz. Identify yourself." the coms called towards the plane. They had tried contacting it three times by military radio, and had now tried the civilian emergency frequency, and yet it hadn't responded. Their captain, Razi Isram, was clearly losing his patience.

"They have one more chance." Razi said, clearly agitated. "Then it's coming down. I'm not taking any chances."

The coms officer shuddered, and called towards the aircraft one more time.

"Unknown aircraft, this is Kolhari frigate Simnaz. This is your final warning. Identify yourself or you will be shot down."

They waited a few minutes. Nothing. Then, the order finally came.

"Bring it down."

---

Everything seemed to be in order, and the transponder seemed to be working now.

"Vakor tower. Kolhar 132. We are squawking 0571. Can you confirm?"

"Kolhar 132, Vakor tower. We can confirm."

"Thank you, Vakor tower. We will resume our course. Kolhar 132."

"Okay, Kolhar 132. You are approaching Saphieron airspace. When you cross waypoint AZIEN contact Saphieron control on 135.7. Have a good flight, Vakor tower."

Kaidal smiled. It was a slight hiccup, but nothing they weren't trained to handle. Now that it was sorted they could go back to relaxing on this flight and-

BANG

"What the hell was that?" Masan screamed as he looked over the systems, trying to find any indication of what was happening. Suddenly an alarm blared in the cockpit. It was one that any pilot would recognize, but dread to hear.

"Cabin depressurization?!" Kaidal exclaimed in surprise. He then turned to his copilot. "Squawk 77." Masan rushed to change the squawk code on the transponder to 7700, the international emergency code. As he did that, Kaidal got on the cabin PA system.

"Put on your oxygen masks and seat belts. Put on your oxygen masks and seat belts." Once Kaidal had finished saying that, he pulled up his own oxygen mask.

"Put on yours too, then let's get down to 10,000 feet." he told his copilot. Masan didn't hesitate to do so.

"MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY. Vakor tower, this is Kolhar 132. Cabin depressurization, we are making emergency descent."

"Roger Kolhar 132. Do you wish to return to the airport?"

ATC sent the transmission to the pilots, but neither answered it. Kaidal was too busy looking to Masan, who was struggling with the controls.

"You okay?" Kaidal asked.

"It's not responding!" Masan said. He was pushing the stick down as hard as he could, but the plane just wasn't responding.

"Let me try. I have control." Kaidal responded, taking control of the plane from Masan. He pushed the stick down, only to find the aircraft unresponsive. The nose wouldn't go down. "What's going on?" He exclaimed.

"Look!" Masan said, pointing at one of the panels. Kaidal looked to see a horrifying discovery.

All three hydraulic lines showed zero pressure. On a large plane like the A330, these hydraulic lines let the pilots control the aircraft. Without them they wouldn't be able to move any of the flight control surfaces. In other words, the aircraft was uncontrollable.

"Vakor tower, we've lost all hydraulics!" Masan said, before being interrupted by the plane suddenly pitching down. The plane gained speed as it went down, losing altitude far faster than it should. Kaidal pulled the control stick back, but it was no use. The plane didn't respond. It kept descending and gaining speed until the nose pitched up again.

In a desperate attempt to save the plane, Kaidal grabbed the thrust levers for the engine and pulled them back. If he had no hydraulics, maybe the engines would work. As he pulled them back, he noticed the plane seemed to come out of the dive.

"We have engines." Kaidal said. "But nothing else."

"Should we head back to Kolhar?" Masan asked. Kaidal thought about the option for a moment, then shook his head.

"No," he said. "I don't want to risk turning. Let's land at the nearest airport in Saphieron."

"Vakor tower, our plane is uncontrollable. We don't want to chance a turn. We will proceed to Saphieron." Masan answered.

"Roger, contact Saphieron control on emergency frequency 121.5."

---

Kaidal and Masan fought with their plane for 45 minutes. They managed to get it down to a safer altitude, but just doing that was incredibly difficult. Saphieron atc had been attempting to help them however they could, guiding them to the nearest airport. Now, finally, they could see the end of the ocean. One of Saphieron's islands was coming into view. They could see the end of their journey.

As they crossed over land, the pilots began preparing to land. It was nerve-wracking, but they had to try get the landing gear down. So, with some hesitation, they began the process. They couldn't use the hydraulics to lower it, so Masan would have to lower it manually. He grabbed the crank handle and began twisting, opening the doors. Then, they let gravity pull the landing gear down. When they were all in their locked position, Masan got back to his seat.

Suddenly the plane pitched up again. Putting out the gear had changed their aerodynamic profile. Their previous control with the engines wasn't working anymore.

"NO!" Kaidal said as he started pulling back the throttle. Suddenly the plane veered to the left, towards a large mountain range. Kaidal pushed the throttles forward, and the plane gained altitude. They cleared one of the mountains, but just then the plane started pitching down once again. But Kaidal couldn't afford to pull back the throttle, another ridge was right in front of them.

"PULL UP!" he screamed. "MAX POWER!"

Both Kaidal and Masan pulled back as hard as they could on their control columns, and pushed the throttles to max. They hoped for a miracle.

SINKRATE. The cockpit alarms started sounding.

"MAX POWER! NOSE UP"

SINKRATE. DON'T SINK!

"POWER!"

DON'T SINK! TOO LOW!

"Don't give up on me! NOSE UP!"

TERRAIN! TOO LOW!

"NOSE UP!"

TERRAIN! TERRAIN! PULL UP!

"UP!"

TERRAIN! TERRAIN! PULL UP!

"C'MON!"

TERRAIN! TERRAIN! PU-

Edited May 12, 2023 by Kolhar (see edit history)

[Rozzaria]

As ATC tower in Shanzhuang juggles with planes coming and going, operator Yu suddenly notices a blip disappear from his screen, he then calls his supervisor for assistance.

"Sir, sir, I need you to have a look at this". As he said that, many of his coworkers turned their heads and listened in. 

His supervisor, Mr. Chang responded and went towards him, "What is it?, is it regarding Kolhar 132?, you've been handling that earlier right?"

"Yes, sir, umm, I was in contact with the pilots, saying they had an emergency and assisted them regarding that, but then, moments ago 132 suddenly disappeared from my screen sir, I would like to try to contact them." he then clears his voice "Kolhar 132 this is Shanzhuang tower, please respond…Kolhar 132 this is Shanzhuang tower, do you copy?" Operator Yu looked at Mr Chang with worry.

Supervisor Chang then said, "you continue on that, update me if u make contact."

"Yes sir"

"Alright everyone I want some of you to drop everything and focus on Kolhar 132, Mr Yu here will get you up to speed if you have any questions, the rest of you, business as usual." 

Supervisor Chang then waved to another idle operator to come near him and silently said, "make sure the bosses know about this, contact them that we have a problem here, and if anyone asks, make sure to say you're just a messenger, take the data and inform them, Go!"

"Yes sir"

Supervisor Chang then stood up straight, put his arms on his hips, seeing as half of his subordinates focus their attention on finding out what happened to Kolhar 132.

---

(Meanwhile, in Shanzhuang City Fire Department 9)

Captain Feng, overall leader of the branch, on the phone talking to his superiors.

"Who the hell is the captain talking to, he's been on it for at least 30 minutes, I'm supposed to be with my girl right now, shopping."

"Who knows, he's probably talking to your girl" (everyone laughs)

"Very funny ensign!"

"Oh oh oh, correction, It's 2nd Lieutenant Jiang now, Bao"

Everyone then reacted, "oooooooooooooooh".

Moments later, Captain Feng puts the phone down and face towards his men and said, "Sorry, mission time boys"

"What? C'mon!"

"Hey cap my girl waiting for me let the B teams handle this, ayt, I'll buy you lunch"

"Hey now It's not April yet, cap, give us a break."

Captain Feng then said "No can do, orders from the top, no ordinary mission, might get messy.

"Well, what's the mission if we're not going home?" 

Captain Feng slowly looked at his crew in their eyes and said, "Plane went down"

"Damn Cap, now my moods gone" (everyone suddenly went silent)

"Serious mission from the top, plane of Kolhar origin went down near Nanhai mountain range, we're tasked to find out what happened and to rescue any survivors, time is of the essence, no leave until mission is completed, I want everyone prepped and ready to go by 1200 hours, we're the first wave, other rescuers will follow suit after us. All clear?

"You know cap, my girls gonna be raging after this but, sir, yes sir indeed."

"Good, now bring all your stuff, will change along the way"

As everyone understood the situation, the men and women of the Shanzhuang Fire Department 9 notified their families and prepared all the necessary equipment onto their trucks, then immediately drove towards the Nanhai mountain range.

---

As SFD9 races through traffic with their sirens on, they are met with multiple police cars also racing through the city going through the same direction they are going.

"Hey cap, I guess this is it huh, the highlight of my career"

"Hmph, not even close, junior. Not even close"

Captain Feng said, "Firefighter Fuyou take a shortcut, too many cars on this road"

"Copy"

SFD9 convoy of 5 trucks then turned left as sounds of police sirens fade away behind them.

"Captain, we're ETA 20 minutes till we get to Nanhai outside the city."

Captain Feng then replied, "Ensign Yu Contact all fire departments near Nanhai, tell them to meet us there, if they ask, also tell them I'm was put in charge of this operation, copy"

"Affirmative cap," "Calling all fire stations near Nanhai…"

---

(Minutes pass)

"Captain we're here", 

"Alright I want everyone by twos, we adjust our perimeter as we go along, look for debris or anything out of the ordinary, we have to find that plane, others will be here soon, don't let them take the glory, ayt?

"Of course cap"

"Captain Feng, command wants an update."

"Tell them search is on the way, updates will be sent in 15-minute intervals, and also tell them to give us a damn drone or chopper"

"Copy captain"

"Alright, Fan out!, be in contact regularly!"

 

(Meanwhile, in the city outskirts)

Other fire departments, volunteers and even off duty police officers are also rushing towards Nanhai mountain range.

@Kolhar

[Kolhar]

The wurld slowly came together around Nora Tagai. What happened? She ran through the events that had just occurred in her head. She was doing her job as a flight attendant when the plane… that's right! There was a loud bang, the cabin depressurized, and then they crashed!

Nora looked around to see fire around her, along with the remains of countless people. They had come down pretty hard, by the looks of it. Even Nora herself could tell she was pretty banged up. She guessed that she must've hit her head pretty hard when the plane went down.

She tried to move, after all, she was a flight attendant. She had to see if anyone needed her help! But when she tried, she found herself pinned to her seat by a piece of wreckage, and she didn't have the strength to push it off.

So she had no other choice but to sit and wait for rescue. Nora didn't like feeling helpless, but that was all she could do. She began to take deep breaths to calm her nerves. Then she began listening. Had anyone else survived?

"Ooh…" It was the moan of one of the passengers. At least one other person had survived. However, she couldn't hear anyone else. Did anyone else survive? Had they just been knocked out? Nora could only pray that there were others who had survived.

---

RIIIING

Rustan Kamal wasn't expecting any phone call, not at this moment. But he didn't hesitate to pick up the line. He was on the job, and he took pride in his work. If it was anything important, Rustan didn't want to miss it.

"Hello?" he said.

"Rustan, there's been an accident."

"Where?" Rustan was only a little surprised. He had heard rumblings of a brewing civil war, and yet the government refused to ground civilian flights. In fact, the government had done the opposite and ordered the flag carrier of the country to continue flights. Rustan, a member of the Aviation Safety Committee, had begged the government to not. But his pleas had fallen on deaf ears. And now it seemed they were reaping the consequences of it.

"Kolhar Airways flight 132 went down in Saphieron. We're contacting Saphieron government authorities right now. If they agree, we'll send you to take part in the investigation. Get to the bottom of this. Update us regularly."

"I will." Rustan said as he put down the phone. He began packing his things. All files that he would need to help with the investigation, everything about Kolhar Airways' material. He began pulling up the maintenance records of the planes. He had a gut feeling about what it was, but he didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

Hopefully Saphieron would agree to let him visit.

[Rozzaria]

As volunteers and other rescuers finally arrived in Nanhai mountain range, they began setting up first aid tents, campsites, and other necessary equipment, SFD9 and multiple rescue teams and helicopters scour the area for any signs of the plane itself.

"Campsite 1 this is SFD9, still searching for the crashed plane, over, can hear multiple birds on my rear, pls advise, we need air recon on our GPS location for a wider search area. Campsite do you copy?"

"SFD9, this is Campsite 1, we read you, we have birds on the air, and we will redirect one of them to your location over, standby."

"Affirmative Campsite 1, Thanks for the assist, updates regarding search will soon follow, pls advise other teams regarding our location, to avoid scouring the same place again, copy?"

"Loud and clear SFD9, we will be waiting… skhhhhhh"

"Hey Yu! Any signs on your end"

"No sir, still blind out here… skhhhhhh"

As the search teams continue to look for the crashed plane, they have been advised to call on potential survivors.

In (universal language) they began shouting, "Rescue squad here! Anyone there? Fire department Rescue!"

"Rescue team! Hello!"

"Kolhar 132! Police Rescue! Shout if you're there!

"Kolhar 132! Kolhar 132!

Some teams even brought and used their megaphones.

"VOLUNTEER RESCUE!, KOLHAR 132!… 132 KOLHAR! HELLO!"

As the search continues, the mountain range was filled with sirens, roaming helicopters and volunteers from the surrounding areas.

---

(Meanwhile inside Zhengfu Tower/ Government Tower) (ooc: a building like the Whitehouse) (Main office building where state affairs are being handled every day)

"What a mess, a damn mess, plane crashed, and we were informed late, even that damn messenger won't answer my question, simple it was, why not earlier?"

"Sir, Foreign Minister, he did say the data we're a bit late to compile so…"

"OH ENOUGH! The fact is, the issue was brought on my lap, at the last minute, tsk."

"Sir, the plane?"

"Oh yes, yes! Despite the unfortunate situation in house, is the data complete, all angles coming in"

"Not quite sir, Mr. Foreign Minister, search teams are still looking for the plane, the data we have is adequate, but it does not show the whole picture, perhaps if we wait for the results from Nanhai we could be able to…"

"No time, bosses want this done as soon as possible, they want us to contact the other party immediately, seeing as this is an opportunity to strengthen relations with Kolhar or perhaps learn more about their inner workings, heck, they should've told me if they wanted to earn some favors, I could have done it when I was visiting the country."

Another one of his subordinates interjected, "Well if they weren't blowing themselves up now they might just do, makes sense they perceive it as an opportunity. Anyways this is our Issue now, better make it look good. First on the list, Survivors."

"I know the second one. The quote and quote what went wrong question. Considering the country is technically experiencing a civil war, no matter how they define it, they would probably send someone from the corporate sector, I'm assuming Kolhar airways was it?"

"Yes sir, Plane owned by Kolhar Airways, but the Aviation Safety Committee might be the one representing"

"Yes, the ASC likely, thank you. But if government lackeys shows up or at least government related perps started butting in then we got some fishy fish going on here, you guys take note on that. Hopefully it'll be ASC or Kolhar Airways from start to finish and no government people because that would mean too much paperwork, honestly."

"Sir, might if I take a lead on this, I briefed my team regarding the Issue, and I'm confident I can blow the case this wide open."

A coworker remarked, "Tsk, arrogant punk."

"Despite your inexperience, FINE then, you lead it, but if anything goes sideways or if you are unable to BLOW THIS CASE WIDE OPEN, she's taking over."

"Agreed sir, but I assure you none of that will happen, have I let you down?, the train issue or perhaps the one where an international serial rapist got loose. I might be inexperience, but I know you brought me here because I have guts, and I'm not all talk, sir, Mr. Foreign Minister."

"Oh nice, an arrogant and annoying punk for a change." his coworker again remarked.

"ENOUGH, Just get this done I don't care whose case is it, and by the way Mr. hotshot, It's not your case, It's mine. Now both of you get out! I haven't even got my lunch!"

---

As the both of them exited the Foreign Minister's office, the lead in charge of the Kolhar 132 case entered his private office with his team and dialled Kolhar's Aviation Safety Committee, which is known to also represent Kolhar Airways internationally.

He breathes calmly while sitting on his chair.

He then writes a fax that will be sent to ASC office directly.

Good Day!

This is representative Huan Li, from the foreign office of Saphieron.

 

I am tasked to find out what happened to Kolhar 132 starting from its departure from Kolhar to its unfortunate crash inside Saphieron controlled airspace. It is in our understanding that the crash is located in one of our major Islands, specifically near Shanzhuang city, the furthermost city south of Saphieron. If Kolhar Airways or the Aviation Safety Committee is not aware of Kolhar 132's demise inside our borders, then the government of Saphieron is sincerely saddened to inform all concerned parties of this horrifying event. Since this tumultuous crash did happen inside the Federal Republic of Saphieron, We are obligated to request any representatives from the ASC or Kolhar Airways to travel to Saphieron and discuss the event in person. We assure that the ASC and Kolhars Airways will have our utmost cooperation, in return, we are expecting to receive the same cooperation standard from all concerned parties from Kolhar. Thank you.

 

Mr. Huan Li

Representative

Department of Foreign Affairs

Federal Republic of Saphieron

@Kolhar

[Kolhar]

  

How long had Nora been here? She wasn't sure, but it had been a while.  At the very least she could still hear the moaning of the other survivor. There didn't seem to be anything to indicate that anyone else survived. There were 302 passengers aboard the flight and 14 crew, including Nora herself. If she and the other person were the only people to survive, that would be 314 people dead.

And if rescue didn't come soon, she would be adding to that number.

She had to hold on. Back home in Kolhar she had a husband who was waiting for her return. She couldn't let him down.

"VOLUNTEER RESCUE!"

The voice was faint, but Nora could hear it. Someone was coming near! They were deep in the mountains, but someone was looking for them! She was so close, just a little more.

"Over here!" Nora tried to call out. She didn't have the energy to scream very loudly, but she tried the best she could. Now she just had to pray that someone would hear her calls for help.

---

The fax from @Saphieron couldn't have come at a better time. Rustan was just about to send a request himself!

The files he was looking for was just starting to come together. Kolhar Airways had sent the documents he requested. Files on the pilots, most recent maintenance records of the planes, the immediate documents of the crew made right before the flight. He had all of that, and he was looking to get more.

The ATC transcripts would still take another day or two to get, since that had to go through approval from other government departments. But Rustan had no reason to believe that the request would be refused. After all, the only time something like that was refused was when it wasn't politically convenient for the Kolhari Advancement Party. This was a safety matter, surely there couldn't be anything the Party would want to hide.

So, Rustan answered the fax.
 

Quote

Huan Li,

I am Rustan Kamal of the Aviation Safety Committee of Kolhar.

We are saddened to hear the news of the crash of Kolhar Airways flight 132. The Aviation Safety Committee, as the independent agency tasked with keeping the skies of Kolhar safe, offers our full cooperation in investigating the cause of the crash. I have been tasked with representing the Aviation Safety Committee in this investigation, and will travel in person to Saphieron to discuss the matter in person.

Additionally, I shall also send the passenger and crew manifest of the flight, in case it assists with the identification of any survivors. Though there were no Saphieron nationals aboard the flight, there was 12 nationals of other nations aboard.

This crash is the worst in Kolhari history, and it is in the best interest of everyone to get to the bottom of it and prevent any future incidents.

I look forward to working with you,

Rustan Kamal
Chief Investigator, Aviation Safety Committee

 

---

Razi stared in the direction the hostile plane had went. It had headed for Saphieron, and good riddance to it. He didn't know what those hostile forces that wanted to overthrow the government were doing with a single plane flying out here, but quite frankly he didn't care. He had already reported his success to his superiors, so they could better plan their military maneuvers. His orders were to report back to base as soon as today's patrol ended.

Simple enough, and they were nearing the end of their patrol route. After this they would just head home.

"Captain, there's something in the sea!" someone yelled.

"What is it?" Razi asked.

"I don't know... it looks like some kind of wreckage."

"Bring us closer."

The Simnaz drifted closer to the wreckage, and it slowly came into view. It wasn't a single piece, but rather several small pieces.

"Bring those pieces up." Razi ordered. Everyone got the salvage operation ready, and within the next hour the pieces had been brought up. But what was it? Razi still had no idea, and neither did anyone else in the crew. The best thing they could do now was bring it back to base and hope someone else had a better idea.

None of them knew it at the time, but they had pieces of an aircraft's spoilers from the inner portion of the left wing.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Kolhar (see edit history)

[Rozzaria]

SFD9 have been looking for the plane for ages, yet no sign of Kolhar 132.

"Captain, should we take a quick break, its burning out here...Skhhhhh"

"KOLHAR 132! RESCUE!!." "Are you kidding, this search could promote me so NO!...Skhhhhh"

"WAIT STOP!"

"Huh??"

"I said be quiet, both of ya!...Skhhhhh". One of SFD9 members suddenly interrupted.

"What is it Firefighter Yu?...Skhhhhh", The captain responded.

"I think I heard something, a voice maybe"

"A voice? where...Skhhhhh"

(Moments later a faint voice can be heard calling for help)

"There it is again."

"What do you hear Yu, Respond...Skhhhhh."

Firefighter Yu then rushed towards the voice, into the large compilations of flora and fauna and began noticing the smell of burnt sulfur along the way, then finally saw small wreckages of Kolhar 132. The womanly voice kept his sense of direction aligned, as he veer nearer, the voice grew louder, signs that survivors are just nearby. After running for a minute or so, the plane came to his front view, It was Kolhar 132 at last.

"Captain Feng, I Found it, track my location, positive on survivors...Skhhhhh"

"Damn that man, stealing my glory," He then radioed the rest of his team that the plane has been found. "alright kids the hard parts coming up, head towards Yu's location, plane in sight, over."

"Affirmative, heading there now....Skhhhhh"

The rest of SFD9 then rushed to Yu's location.

"Hey newbie, contact campsite 1, Golden egg has been found, send them Yu's location, understood?."

"copy cap." He then radioed in, "Campsite 1, Campsite 1 this is SFD9, Golden egg has been located, I repeat..."

(Meanwhile at the crash site)

"Praise Shangdi!, HEEEEY!!, HEEEEY!!, FIRE RESCUE HERE!! 

Firefighter Yu rushed towards the wreckage and saw an injured woman, he kneeled down to the survivor and saw her name tag, [NORA]

"Alright Ms. Nora everything will be fine, we'll take you to the nearest emergency hospital as soon as we get that thing off ya, alright."

Multiple boots and radio chatter then was heard rushing behind him. It was SFD9 and many more volunteers coming in.

"Guys over here!, survivors!, check if there's more! and Get a jack in here! need to lift a debris"

Rescue has arrived, dozens more poured in moments later. Helicopters then began hovering the area, as the sun was about to set, one of them dramatically shine its powerful search light right on top of firefighter Yu and Ms. Nora.

Firefighter Yu then looked at Ms. Nora and said, "everything's going to be okay."

As the crashed plane came into full view, the area is littered with burnt wreckage, dead bodies, wandering firefighters, paramedics and volunteers.

Sometime later, Ms. Nora and the other survivor were successfully evacuated from the scene and rushed to the nearest emergency hospital. The search for the missing plane is now over.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(At Shanzhuang Island Hospital)

Ms. Nora...Ms. Nora, you awake? I apologize for disturbing you but Inspectors are here and would like to interview you, besides, you were out cold since your rescue, honestly, me and the nurses were very worried you would not wake up, thank Shangdi you did," "Oh, Inspector, I'll just be outside, please make it quick, my patient needs to rest."

The Inspector just nodded, and silently closed the door as the doctor exits.

He then got a chair and sat beside miss Nora in a very polite manner, leaned in and spoke softly, "How are you Miss Nora?, ummm, you’re in Shanzhuang Island Hospital, I am Inspector Kang and my buddy outside is Inspector Ping.”

He then showed his badge and slowly brings out his pen and notebook.

“Ummm, forgive me miss Nora, but, would you be so kind to recall the events that have led you here. What happened to Kolhar 132?, to you” He emphasized. “up there."

He then slightly smiled and added “Take your time”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Back at Zengfu Tower)

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"WHAT!"

Door slowly opens, "Ummm Mr. Foreign Minister, they found the plane and...survivors."

Foreign Minister Ming Liu then quickly puts his feet down from the table and sat properly, coming from a quick nap, he rubs his eyes and said excitingly,

"Really? Survivors?"

"Two sir, for now, but so far there have been at least 280 plus bodies, no news if they're...."

"He then shouted, while clenching is fist, WHOOOOOO!" Which surprised staff members right outside his office.

The foreign minister then leaned more to his chair, almost laying down, and said to himself, "Bonus salary, Here I come"

His secretary then interrupted "Umm sir, here's the original report, shall I give a copy to the lead in charge as well?"

"yeah yeah give it to that punk too, now shoo! shoo!, and bring some coffee will ya!"

After giving him the report, his secretary then exited while slowly closing the door, and walked towards Mr. Huan Li's private office.

Knock! knock! but the door opened by itself, meaning it was already opened in the first place.

"Excuse me Mr. Li, I have some details regarding the plane sir, the plane has been found, here's a copy of the report."

"Really? Oh sorry thank you, pls come in and leave it here."

After handing it in, the secretary politely exits Mr. Li's office.

Then Representative Li begins reading it.

While reading he murmurs to himself, "280 plus bodies and many more yet to be found, sighs, Shangdi save them. Wait!, Hmmmm interesting, reconstruction investigators here stated that the plane suddenly blew a hole on its side, but how? explosion from the cabin?, broken window?, bird strike, NO, hmph! impossible, a bird couldn't have done this. HUH? what's this? Sulfur? Strong concentrations of sulfur found from the blast area. Did a hostage situation occurred inside Kolhar 132 that led to this? or perhaps, someone or something shot it from the outside, Lightning strike? No, perhaps military related? a drone? Fighter plane?, maybe. TSK! Gotta get my team in here right now."

Mr Li immediately sent a fax to the ASC following the discovery.

Quote

Good Day,

This is Representative Huan Li from the Foreign Affairs Office of Saphieron.

As of this moment, Kolhar 132 of Kolhar Airways was just recently discovered by our search teams within the supposedly crash site on the Nanhai mountain range. We are saddened to inform said companies that there have been only two survivors who have been rescued so far, and if there were others, they have not yet been found. In total, according to our emergency services teams on the ground, they have Identified 280 or more deceased passengers and crew within the crash site itself, I was recently informed by officials on the ground that they are continuing to look for the rest of the passengers and crew who boarded Kolhar 132 in the surrounding areas of the crash site. It is in my utmost sincerity that this tragedy will be handled by our government with great care and assure concerned parties that whoever or whatever is responsible for this catastrophe will be dealt with, according to international law and standards. The government of Saphieron wholeheartedly supports the ASC and Kolhar Airways and other concerned parties in bringing this case to justice. We wish you good luck and our humblest condolences.

Mr Huan Li

Representative

Department of Foreign Affairs

Federal Republic of Saphieron

Going forward, Mr. Li called for his team to enter his office to discuss the report.

He then sat in front of them and said, "Give me explanations no matter how far fetch, representatives from Kolhar may be on their way, I just got their fax, crew manifests are in." He then taps the table, "I need at least something that will provoke a reaction, anything. now shoot!"

@Kolhar

Edited May 15, 2023 by Saphieron
grammar and additional info (see edit history)

[Kolhar]

Nora was about to give up hope, but then she heard it. The voices were getting louder. They definitely were. She called out with what strength she had left, praying that whoever it was would find her. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out. And then, it happened. She could make out the shape of a figure coming to her.

"Thank you," Nora said to whoever it was. Without even realizing it she had defaulted back to speaking her native language of Kolhari, but that didn't matter. It was only as they lifted her out of her seat and onto a stretcher that Nora finally allowed herself to relax, just a little. Then the wurld began fading away...

---

When Nora woke up she didn't recognize anything around her. It took a few seconds for her to be able to take everything in. She saw a clean white room, and she was in a bed. There seemed to be some sort of drip attached to her. Then Nora noticed the heart monitor attached to her.

Was this a hospital?

Then, someone came in. A nurse, maybe? That question was answered quickly, followed by a call to some doctors. They quickly came and looked over her. Apparently she was recovering well, all things considered, but still needed to spend some time in the hospital.

Then, shortly after that, the Inspectors came. Nora wasn't entirely surprised, but she didn't look forward to it. But, that having been said, she wanted to speak to them. To tell them what happened from her perspective.

"Everything was normal," Nora told them. "I think we were about to reach cruise. We were just about to start a small snack service for the passengers. Then there was a loud bang that came from the left side of the plane." Nora shuddered at the memory of it. That was the most terrifying thing she's ever experienced in her career as a flight attendant. But she pulled herself back together, and began giving more details

"I was in the very back of the plane, and it seemed to come from some distance away from where I was. Not sure where exactly. Then the cabin filled with a fog and the oxygen masks came down." Before that incident, Nora had only heard about that. But she knew from her training that those were the signs of an explosive decompression of the cabin.

"We got our oxygen masks and started helping passengers. After that, the plane began pitching up and climbing, then pitching down and dropping. For about 10 minutes it was like the pilots couldn't control the plane." What could cause a plane to do that? It wasn't anything that Nora had heard of.

"After things settled down a little, the pilots called us and said they had flight control problems, and we were heading to Saphieron. Things kept going like that until we started getting ready to land. The moment the landing gear was deployed, the plane went out of control again. Then..." Nora stopped, not able to finish her sentence. She couldn't finish that sentence, but that was when the plane crashed.

---

It had been a few days since the incident, and the Simnaz returned to port. Kolhari officials examined the wreckage that they had brought back, and clearly identified it as belonging to whatever plane the Simnaz had brought down.

What they hadn't figure out yet, was exactly what the Simnaz had brought down. They were combing through their radar records and nothing seemed to indicate that a plane belonging to the rebels was flying anywhere near the area.

Yet the crew of the Simnaz reported that the plane didn't respond to radio warnings. So what could it be?

It would be some time yet before they learned the truth of what happened.

---

As Rustan landed in @Saphieron he rushed to meet the officials. On the car ride there he went through all the possibilities in his head. The last thing Kolhari ATC heard from the flight was that there was a depressurization of the cabin. Considering things were normal before, there had to be something that caused it.

Could it be a failure of the plane structure? That would certainly cause an explosive decompression, but would it explain the loss of hydraulics that came after? It would depend on where the failure happened, but it was certainly a possibility.

But what would cause a failure of the plane structure? It probably wasn't the engines, since the flight reported no engine failures. They could double check that at Saphieron, if the engine was working it would have sucked in debris from where it crashed deep into it. So they should find bits of trees and dirt. If not the engines, it could be metal fatigue from the fuselage or a blowout of a window or door. But at the very least the maintenance records that were readily available showed no glaring faults. They would need to take a closer look at them to be sure though.

There were other possibilities too, though. One Rustan didn't want to consider, but had to, was a bomb. A well placed bomb inside the airplane would certainly cause everything that was described so far. That was why Rustan sent over the passenger and crew manifests as soon as he could. They could check to see if anyone had a record.

But there was one possibility that made Rustan's gut wrench, one that he didn't want to discuss at all. Yet something in his gut told him he couldn't dismiss it outright.

Was the plane shot down by someone?

[Rozzaria]

As the Inspector heard everything from the survivor, his talk with Ms. Nora gave a lot of insights but ultimately lead to more questions, since she is clearly exhausted and traumatized from the event he decided to end his talk with her.

"Well, that was indeed a harrowing experience for you Ms. Nora, I do hope you get well soon. Please, if you remembered anything else, don't hesitate to reach me. I would like to leave my card with you if that's ok."

He then got out a business card and put it on the table beside her. He then stood up and said,

"Sincerely Ms. Nora, your lucky to be alive."

He then quietly exited the room.

The other Inspector then stood up and approached him with curiosity.

"Anything? what she'd say?

He lights a cigarette and said, "Everything, other than the answers we're looking for. Seriously, the department wants me to figure this out but handed me a time limit till next week, dammit, everyone's racing for a promotion, like who gets to the finish line faster or something."

"I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out champ, besides, I know you do like the spotlight, even if you always deny it, hell, even the reporters outside are waiting for you."

"reporters? they're here? who told them to come here?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question?, or get you a medicine for memory loss due to old age."

The lead Inspector then immediately threw his cigarette to the floor and hesitantly went to where some reporters are waiting.

"Damn politicians" he then silently muttered to himself.

"Oh and by the way, don't forget to smile champ."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the representative is on the way to meet the foreign minister.

"Knock Knock Knock...Ummm sir sorry to interrupt but the representative from Kolhar is on the way."

"Thank you, kindly assist him when he gets here, lead hime here in my office."

"Yes Foreign Minister." She then silently closed the door.

He then said to his team,

"Alright so far no solid reasons, everything hypothetical, I'll just throw everything up the air and assume all possibilities are being tackled, It could be just a simple malfunction, but that huge hole tells me there's more to the story, malfunctions of that size don't usually happen. Two things I could think of, either a terrorist attack or a catastrophic malfunction that we haven't thought about, but ultimately, no one really knows what happen. Any word from the survivors?"

"No word yet sir but I'll contact some people, by now the interview would be done."

"Yes yes, hopefully they'll be able to shine a brighter light on this mess, a mess I'm determined to fix."

"We all agree sir."

"So, that's it for the meeting, let me know if you find anything of significance, anything."

As the meeting is concluded, everyone went back to their offices and desks.

The Foreign Minister then faces his office window, saw a plane figurine on his desk behind him, from the reflection of the window and silently said,

"What really happened to you Kolhar 132?."

@Kolhar

[Kolhar]

"So, what's this important thing you wanted to talk about?" Arez Brionan sighed. There was a civil war going on, and yet his defense minister had called a sudden meeting. The Davil, Kolhar's great leader, had much more important things to attend to.

"We have some information regarding the aircraft shot down by the Simnaz a while ago."

Suddenly Arez's interest was piqued. Perhaps there was something they could use against the rebels? There was no telling, but he would love anything he could use against them.

"Well, get talking."

"We're analyzed the piece of wreckage recovered by the ship and identified it. It... it belongs to Kolhar Airways flight 132."

Arez froze.

"Are… are you saying what I think you are?"

"I believe our ship shot down a civilian airliner. One belonging to our own national airline, no less."

Arez fell silent. There was no telling what the international reaction to this be if word got out. They needed to figure out if they had found out, and what they could do.

"Does @Saphieron know about this?"

"I don't believe so."

Arez breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he got up, a new fire in his eyes. A fire of determination to protect himself.

"We need to cover this up. Claim it was a terrorist attack, and make sure our investigator gets Saphieron to say the same." Arez said. "Use his family as leverage."

"It will take time to arrange, but we will do it."

---

Rustan walked into the meeting place, where he could see the ministers from Saphieron. He wanted to help figure out what was happening, and he fully intended to cooperate with their investigation. He may be leading a Kolhari inquiry into the matter, but he wanted to make sure the truth got out no matter what he could do.

He pulled out his files as he got to the table.

"It's good to see you, I just wish it were under better circumstances. I'm Rustan Kamal." he said as he began handing the files over to the officials from Saphieron. "Let's get right to business. This is everything I could get about the maintenance records of the aircraft, and what information I could get on short notice from the Kolhari side. I'll need more time to get any more information.

"I'm sure you're as eager as I am to get to the bottom of this. Have you recovered the plane's black boxes yet?"

The black boxes, which were the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) could contain valuable clues to finding the truth, and hopefully had survived the crash. They were designed to withstand some bad accidents, and it was something they needed to find out what happened. It would help them get to the truth.

He had no idea that back at home, his wife, and children were being placed under surveillance by the secret police.

[Rozzaria]

As the Representative from Kolhar arrived in his office and presented him the documents, He welcomed him, "A good but tragic day for you Mr. Rustan, I hope everything was comfortable on your way here? I know that the formalities are unnecessary in regards to this situation but of course, first impressions are important nonetheless, even on dark times."

As the Mr. Rustan greeted and handed the documents to the Foreign Minister.

He then replied,

Iin fact, I do have the black box and flight recorder, fortunately the results of the analysis was sent to me minutes before you arrived, If I'm correct, it said here, according to the report, the plane, before the event, was operating optimally on its way to Saphieron, which tells me that the plane, from its departure, the plane had no internal malfunctions, except during the time the pilots reported for an emergency landing, well I could only conclude that something external happened, perhaps a storm, which is unlikely, ATC from Shanzhuang reported no severe weather patters in the area. So again, judging from its Blackbox analysis the pilots were clearly distressed from something that suddenly happened during the flight itself, something they weren't expecting to happen when the plane was flying optimally, so far everything was in tip top shape before and after leaving Kolhar."

"All I know is that a hole blew from the the one side of the plane mid flight, all weathers clear, no internal malfunctions were found that could cause that kind of immediate damage, pilots were astounded then contacted ATC in Shanzhuang, asking for assistance, and unfortunately crashed in the Nanhai mountain range, so far, we got 2 survivors with at least 350 plus deceased."

"So Mr. Rustan you did say you don't have all the answers yet, so would you mind giving me any kind of explanations from your side of the fence, no matter how far fetch it would sound, because I do have a lot from the back of my head to be honest, and I worry 99 percent of them are either wrong or either right, so I'm trusting on you on this."

He then waited for the representative to reply. @Kolhar

[Kolhar]

Rustan thought for a moment. There was a lot of new information, but it didn't answer the question of what happened.

But it did tell them what didn't happen, which was progress.

"So," Rustan started. "No internal malfunctions, no reports of trouble up until the decompression. FDR and CVR show everything is normal until then. But, something had to cause that explosive decompression, and since everything went downhill from there I'd wager that something also caused the plane to crash."

Rustan thought about previous accidents in the past that had happened around the wurld. There were only so many possibilities that could cause an event like this.

"The possibilities I can think of are a fuselage failure due to metal fatigue, a mid-air collision with something, or..." Rustan trailed off. He didn't want to think about the last possibility, but he had to bring himself to accept that it was a possibility.

"Or some sort of explosion." Rustan looked the representative in the eyes. "We should examine all possibilities, and leave no stone unturned."

Suddenly Rustan's phone began ringing.

Really, now? Rustan thought as he looked at it. Who in the wurld could it be?

When Rustan saw it was the headquarters of his employer, he knew something was up.

"Excuse me, I need to take this call." Rustan said as he stepped out of the room for a moment. He answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Rustan Kamal. You're mission is now a matter of national security."

The blood drained from Rustan's face. It was a voice he didn't recognize, but they were using the Committee's phone line.

"Who is this?" Rustan asked as his voice trembled.

"The accident was a terror attack by the rebels in Tailat, am I correct?"

"Who is this?" Rustan asked again, slightly more demanding.

"Nobody you should be concerned about, unless the accident wasn't a terror attack." The voice said. "You're wife is quite beautiful. It would be a shame if something happened to her say... when she's getting her daily coffee from the local cafe."

That confirmed Rustan's fears. This person was from Kolhar's secret police. And they were going to force Rustan to do something he didn't want to do. And he couldn't stop them.

But he wanted to confirm one more thing with the person.

"You... you know what happened to the plane, don't you?" he said.

"I told you, it was a terrorist attack." The voice said. "Now make sure that you find the right evidence for it over there. We'll figure out the identities of the culprits in the next few days." With that, the line was cut.

There was only one thing this could mean. The government of Kolhar knew what caused the accident, and whatever it was they wanted to cover it up. The thought of even trying it made Rustan sick to the stomach, but he it seemed he didn't have a choice. Whoever that stranger was, they knew of his wife's daily habits. And if they knew about that, they could hurt her.

But could he really bring himself to do this? Rustan walked back into the room. He looked at the person he was just speaking to.

"We should check the wreckage for signs of explosives." Rustan said. "That could give us a hint as to what happened."

Rustan wasn't completely sure what caused the crash, but he had a hunch. And if his hunch was right, they would find signs of explosives.