In 1993 the Sultanate of Agrabah was assaulted by their neighbour country, the Republic of Ayfaqustan. The two countries had a long history of border disputes, specially since they had found oil on the Agrabahn side of the border. After years of fruitless negotiations and the increasing economical crisis in Ayfaqustan, this conflict finally escalated. Fathi Ashhad, President of Ayfaqustan, claimed that Agrabah were Ayfaqustani territory that had been cut off by British colonial politicians after World War II. Ayfaqustani propaganda stated that Agrabah had indeed been part of the ancient Ayfaquan Empire long before British colonialism and that it must be reconquered at all cost. The invasion only took three days, as the small sultanate could barely offer any resistance. Just one hour after the Ayfaqustani troops had surrounded the palace of Agrabah, Ashhad stated in television, that "[...] no harm will be done to the royal family nor to any Agrabahn citizen, as long as the new negotiations lead to an agreement of mutual benefit. This is no war - we have just created a fairer basis for negotiation." This was aired at 6:00 Arabia Standard Time (3:00 GMT). One hour later, Lana Craft got the call.
Just a few hours after Lana's got the call, we were sitting in her fathers battered Douglas DC3 on our way to Agrabah. Sir James bought this chubby looking plane back in the 50's for is collection of WWII aeroplanes. He named it "Lana" Because of its bad condition Sir James decided to repair and modify "Lana" and use her as a private jet. For almost 30 years he had been rolling on nearly every airfield in the world with his 'old girl', humming through heavy storms, beautiful sunsets, over cities and deserts, crossing oceans and mountains. No wonder the old aircraft was literally falling apart, when Lana and I took off for Agrabah.
When I sat down on the co-pilot seat it gave a crunching and squeaking noise, like metal being bend and broken. If you slammed the door of the cockpit everything within rattled, like a tin full of nails. I put one hand against the window and pushed to test it. It gave away a deep creaking groan. I smiled uneasy at Lana, but she just smiled back. "Common, this is going to be fun!" she said laughing, grabbing the back of my seat and shaking it wildly. From somewhere behind me a metal spring jumped against my leg. I swallowed hard. Holy Mother, this was going to be our last flight, I thought.
If we wanted to talk we had to scream, such was the rattling, the rumble and clatter of this flying scrap heap. So most of the time we were silent. But we had to refuel two times and we had some time in quiet to talk about what we were going to do. The Agrabah royals were good friends with the Hengshingly Crafts. Now they needed our help. They had asked the occupying forces for some favours, and they had been granted. One of them was to get Miss Craft to be the mediator and negotiator between the two countries. The Aifuqustanis had seen this as a sign of good will and accepted the request. Besides it seamed very convenient to them that the mediator would be an archaeologist and historian, because they thought she would only proof the point their propaganda was making, that Agrabah was once part of the Aifuquan Empire. On the other hand, if she dared to deny it, she was still a woman, and for them that meant she was easy to be 'persuaded'. The Aifuqustanis felt save in their superior position, so they where foolishly generous.
Lana knew already what this whole thing was really about. The royals didn't want her to negotiate. People never wanted the famous Miss Craft and her shooting skills for talking. They wanted her to get stuff in or out some place. So Lana figured the royals had something very valuable they didn't want the invaders to have. Now all depended on whether the royals had this valuable object already in hands or they needed Lana to find it first and than getting it out of the enemies reach. "This is going to be interesting and very very lucrative." concluded Lana with a knowing smile, while studying an Agrabah tourist guide.
During the flight I thought about all this. I have been on adventures with her all my life and every time I had a bad feeling about it. I never got used to all this risky business of hers. It's just not me. You know, shooting, jumping from cliffs, buildings or helicopters, things exploding... Or crossing whole Venice just to find some lever that opens a door on the other side of town. Hell, no! I left this kind of action to her and preferred to be save and warm. On the other Hand, when everything was over, and I was back home, I loved to tell the adventure stories to others, sometimes feeling a bit like a hero myself. But, well, back to the story at hand.