Chapter 2: Reunion
Months later, the title of Second Lieutenant was fresh on Sean’s collar. He was no longer a cadet but an official pilot, the cockpit of his fighter a second skin. The endless sky was a welcome escape from the politics on the ground. One day, a routine patrol near the border was shattered by a priority alert: a suspicious, unidentified aircraft attempting a clandestine border run.
Following protocol, Sean located the craft, a sleek private transport half-hidden by the dense forest canopy below. Duty demanded he report it immediately. But something held him back—a gut feeling, a memory. He deployed a micro-drone, its stealth optics feeding a silent stream of data to his console. As the image resolved, his breath caught in his throat. In the passenger seat of the enemy craft was Ruby.
The sight of her—the woman who had saved him and his students—sent a jolt through him. His duty was clear, but the memory of her quiet act of mercy was clearer. His subconscious didn't just suggest a course of action; it screamed it. He killed the uplink to headquarters. For now, this was his secret. He would follow her, a ghost in the sky, and understand her purpose.
His surveillance revealed a desperate, suicidal flight plan. Ruby's transport was heading for the "Dead Man's Corridor", a narrow passage infamous for its overlapping fields of anti-air batteries. Without a valid, friendly authorization code, her plane would be shredded by automated defenses long before it reached the border.
There was no time. Under the blanket of total radio silence enforced in the zone, he had no way to warn her. No way but one.
He pushed his engines, closing the distance. Her crew, seeing a hostile fighter approaching at speed, armed their weapons. Alarms lit up Sean's console. He ignored them. He activated his plane's external flashlight, aiming it at her cockpit and began to flash a frantic message in Morse code.
DANGER AHEAD. TURN BACK.
The response was a warning shot that streaked past his canopy. He held his course, his own plane's alarms screaming. He flashed again, this time adding a personal plea.
REMEMBER YOUR ADVICE. TO MY STUDENTS. TRUST ME.
Inside Ruby’s transport, confusion turned to shock. Her pilot was shouting about the madman in the fighter jet. But Ruby saw the flashes, understood the message. Your advice to my students. There was only one person it could be. With her heart pounding, she made a choice born of faith. "Do not fire!" she commanded her crew. "Let him approach."
Sean flew impossibly close, the wingtips of their aircraft nearly touching. He began broadcasting his own plane's authorization code on a wide, powerful frequency, hoping the signal was strong enough to envelop her transport in a protective bubble. To the automated defense systems, they had to appear as one.
"I'm declaring a technical emergency," he reported to his own headquarters, his voice a mask of calm professionalism. "Flight controls are unstable. Maintaining altitude to diagnose."
Then came the maneuver—a feat of impossible airmanship. He inverted his fighter, flying upside down directly above her transport, extending his variable-geometry wings to their maximum width. The goal was to merge their two radar signatures into a single, larger blip that matched his friendly code. The strain on his body and his aircraft was immense. The controls screamed in his hands, every muscle straining to hold the formation steady.
For a breathtaking moment, as their planes flew in perfect, terrifying unison, they locked eyes through their respective canopies. He saw the fear and astonishment on her face, but also a profound, silent gratitude. She saw the raw concentration and determination etched on his.
Finally, they left the "Dead Man's Corridor". The last threat icon vanished from his screen. He peeled away, his jet rolling upright as he broke the formation. Ruby's transport was safe, a clean vector to the border. As her plane sped away, she pressed a hand to the cold glass of the window, her heart aching with a silent thank you, and a question that would haunt her: in a world without war, who could they have been to each other?
Scene from this Chapter:
Do not fire!" she commanded her crew. "Let him approach."sample video