I was visiting my dad. I'm going home to my mom. She's gonna His voice hitched. She's going to be so scared if I don't come home. Walter put an arm around the boy's shoulders.
And something in his chest cracked wide open because he was thinking of his own boy gone 40 years now. A boy who'd never gotten to grow up. You listen to me, Tyler. You're going home to your mother. There's a man flying this airplane who is very, very good at his job.
He flew fighter jets. You know what those are? The really fast ones. The really fast ones. And this big, slow airplane.
Easy for a man like that. Easy as pie. Walter squeezed his shoulder. So, you hold my hand and we'll be brave together, you and me. Can you be brave?
Tyler looked up at him with enormous wet eyes. Are you scared? And Walter Hensley, who had buried a son and a wife and 11 good men in his long life, looked down at this small stranger and told him the truth, because the boy deserved the truth a little. But being brave doesn't mean you're not scared, Tyler. Being brave means you're scared and you hold on anyway.
Can you do that? Tyler slid his small hand into Walter's big one. Yeah, good man. Mayday, mayday, mayday. Kayn's voice was iron now.
All the shaking gone because she'd found the thing that saved her. She'd found purpose. Any station. Any station. This is Meridian 447 heavy.
We have lost our captain to a medical emergency. We have a hydraulic failure and an engine malfunction. We are declaring an emergency and diverting to Thuli. Requesting immediate assistance. Over.
Static. Long roaring static. Come on, Ethan murmured. Somebody's up there. Somebody's always up there.
447. This is Thu approach. A voice faint, crackling, then firming. We copy your mayday. We have you on radar.
Say, souls on board and fuel remaining. Th Meridian 447. We have 217 souls on board. Fuel is Kalin checked. Fuel is not our problem.
We've got plenty. Our problem is hydraulics and we are losing flight controls over 47. Thoule understood. Be advised we are scrambling all emergency services. Our runway is open and waiting for you.
What is the condition of your flight crew? Ethan keyed his own mic. Thu, this is the pilot flying. My name is Ethan Carter, former Air Force F-16s. I've got the airplane.
My first officer is assisting. Our captain is deceased. I'm going to need you to talk me down onto that runway because I have never flown an aircraft this size in my life and I'm about to lose half my controls. Can you do that for me? A pause.
Then the thool controller, a man who'd clearly heard everything in 20 years and never quite this said. Carter Thu, Air Force, huh? Yes, sir. A while ago. Well, welcome home, Fly Boy.
Warmth, sudden and fierce through the static. We've got you. Everybody down here's got you. You bring them on in and we'll do the rest. What squadron in?
And Ethan Carter, the biker, the outcast, the man a whole cabin had feared, felt his throat close because 13 years is a long time to go without hearing that particular kind of we've got you. The kind that only comes from your own. Fighting 4001st, sir. He managed. Out of Avano.
4001st. I'll be damned. My brother flew Vipers out of Avano. Small world, brother. Small sky.
The controller's voice steadied into pure competence. All right, Carter. Let's get you and your 217 home. First thing, the hydraulic gauge hit zero. The green system died with a shutter that ran through the entire airframe, and the yolk went heavy in Ethan's hands, suddenly sickeningly heavy, like the airplane had turned to stone.
"There it goes," Ethan grunted, hauling back. "Kalin, help me get on it. We just lost the green system she's going to want to nose over. Pull. " They both pulled. The airplane fought them.
200 tons of aluminum and terrified humanity fighting the two people trying to save it. And for one long horrible second, the nose dropped and the air speed built. And somewhere behind them, the screaming started again. "Pull! " Ethan roared. And then the nose came up slow, grudging, but up.
They leveled off both of them soaked in sweat arms already burning. "That Ethan panted, is going to be the whole rest of the flight. Every second we handfly this whale with our own muscle and we do it for the next 25 minutes and we do not stop and we do not let go because the second we let go she dives. You understand me Kalin? We are the hydraulic system now.