Chapter 5 - Whispers Behind the Cockpit Door
Tessa slipped back into the cockpit, carrying a glass of ice water and a roll of heavy adhesive medical tape. “Commander, the captain is starting to moan, but his pupils are completely unequal. The doctor says we have less than twenty minutes before the swelling on his brain causes irreversible damage.”
“We’ll be on the ground in ten,” Mara replied without flinching. “Tessa, brace the cabin. Put everyone into the crash position. Pillows against their chests, heads down between their knees. I want every loose item secured. Shoes off. Eyeglasses stored.”
Tessa’s lips trembled, but she stood straight. “Is it going to be that bad?”
Mara glanced at her for a fraction of a second. “We have no wing flaps to slow us down. We are going to hit that runway at roughly two hundred miles per hour. When the tires touch down, they may blow out from the friction. We’re going to brake with everything we’ve got, and it’s going to feel like hitting a brick wall. Tell them to hold on to their lives.”
“Understood,” Tessa said, turning back toward the cabin.
As the cockpit door clicked shut, Evan looked over at Mara. His breathing was shallow, his lips turning slightly blue from the shock of his broken bones. “You know… you’re crazy, Keene.”
“That’s what my squadron commander told me before I qualified for night traps on the USS Nimitz,” Mara said, a faint, razor-sharp smile touching her lips. “He said I had ice water in my veins. Right now, I wish I had a cup of hot coffee instead.”
“How are you going to stop this thing without reverse thrust on engine two?” Evan asked, his voice shaking. “If that engine is running an overtemp, pulling reverse thrust on it might trigger a catastrophic turbine disc failure. It’ll blow shrapnel straight through the cabin.”
Mara’s hands tightened on the yoke. “Then we shut down engine two.”
Evan stared at her, horrified. “What?! Shut down an engine on short final? In a zero-flap configuration?”
“If we keep it running, we risk an uncontained explosion when we throw the reversers,” Mara explained coolly. “If we shut it down now, we eliminate the fire risk, balance the aircraft’s drag, and commit entirely to a single-engine rollout using maximum brakes and number one reverse thrust. It’s simple carrier math, Evan.”
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“This isn't an aircraft carrier, Mara! You can't just slam the gear into the deck and let a wire do the work!”
“Watch me,” Mara replied.
