Hang on. Ran out of letter. Follow up from never been in a helicopter crash anon (I hope your other anons haven't either tbh) - I just realised your wording on Sky. The getting shot down is /before/ he got transferred as it says the unspecified times were after. Which. Time and Warriors are /not/ going to have had a good day hearing about that. Whether he tells them later, or they heard because he was supposed to be bringing them a patient when it happened. Oh dear... I want to hug everyone.
Sky gritted his teeth as they flew. This area was under particularly heavy fire. Their mission report had indicated the coordinates were in the middle of a hot zone and soldiers were desperately trying to get the situation under control so they could get in, get the patients, and get out.
Command had advised they wait, but Sky knew that usually meant at least one soldier would be dead by the time they got the all clear signal to even take off. He didn't necessarily disobey orders, he just... took them into consideration.
Sun and Groose didn't argue the point.
"The rendezvous point is ten miles ahead," Sun noted as she grabbed the radio to start communicating with the ground forces.
Sky adjusted the collective, lowering the lever to his left a little so the helicopter started to descend as they made their approach. They'd be there in a few minutes.
"Command says the LZ is clear," Sun advised.
Sky smiled. "Good. I figured they'd get it under control by the time we got here."
Groose laughed from behind them. "They'd better! It's only been twenty minutes since they first called in for evac!"
The helicopter started to descend, and Groose told their medic team to prepare for landing.
And then the helicopter lurched, sending Sky and Sun into their harnesses and knocking the wind out of them. Sky immediately felt the helicopter start swerving as if torque were twirling it like a spinning top. He tried to adjust with the foot pedals, telling the chopper to adjust its tail rotor to compensate.
The helicopter barely responded.
"What the hell was that?!" Groose yelled from the back.
Sun was frantically looking at the consoles as they alarmed. "Sky, the tail rotor got damaged! We've been hit!"
Sky felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. "Strap in! Now!"
He heard Groose and their medical crew scurry back to their seats after they had started setting up for the drop. Items were hastily strapped down. He reacted on instinct, trying to continue adjusting the pedals as he steadily lowered the helicopter to the ground. There was no way they were staying airborne with a busted tail rotor - that rotor was responsible for preventing them from spinning uncontrollably. It was going to be a miracle if they could get to the ground in one piece.
We're going to crash.
Sky looked briefly at Sun to see her watching him with fear. He wanted so desperately to reach out to her, but he had his hands full. Her terror did something else to him as well; he felt resolve burn through his veins, and he gripped the cyclic desperately with both hands.
They were not dying today.
"Take over with the collective and get us down slowly," he ordered.
Sun pressed a button and took control of the device that determined their altitude while Sky fought desperately with the steering device in front of him. With no tail rotor to stabilize them, the helicopter started spinning at a dizzyingly high speed. G-forces shoved him and everyone else to the side, making it even more difficult to try and steady the aircraft. The horizon dipped up and down repeatedly, scenery blurring in a nauseating frenzy, and Sky started to see specks in his vision.
He was about to pass out. Sun was already unconscious from the g-forces.
Grabbing the throttle, he revved down the engine; if it wasn't running then they weren't spinning.
Of course that also meant they weren't flying, either.
Groose screamed as the helicopter went into a near free-fall.
Sky's stomach was up in his throat as his shoulders slammed into his harness, preventing him from flying out of his seat. He watched their altitude decrease on the sensor before cranking the engine back up to full throttle and shoving one of his feet into the pedals all the way to the floor. He had to have some kind of tail rotor still functioning, and he was going to need it.
The helicopter roared to life once more, the cyclic fighting him as they jerked this way and that, and then the entire world jolted as they slammed into the ground on their landing gear.
Sky leaned heavily in his seat, sighing in relief, his entire body trembling. Then his situation slammed into him and he immediately unbuckled, shaking his copilot. "Sun. Sun!"
His friend groaned, slowly coming to, and he unbuckled her harness, pulling her into his arms and dragging her away from the exposed cockpit as gunfire blazed all around them. Groose and the medics were already arming themselves, preparing for the worst.
"Groose, you alright?" Sky asked as he carried Sun into the fuselage.
"Right as rain and ready to kick some ass!" Groose yelled, loading his gun.
Sun coughed and her eyes fluttered open. "Sky?"
Sky immediately turned his attention to her, lowering her to the ground. "Are you okay?"
Taking a deep breath, his friend rubbed her face and then gently pushed herself out of his hold. "Yeah. Just the g-forces. Everyone good? Did we land?"
"If by land, you mean rattled every single bone in my body, then yeah," Groose remarked. "Sky needs to go back to school and learn how to land properly."
Sky rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Right. I need to figure out how far from the LZ we--"
Gunshots tore through the fuselage, ricocheting and hitting one of the medics in the shoulder. He cried out, dropping, and everyone immediately crouched. Groose opened the door, gun at the ready, and Sky armed himself as well.
"Get on the radio and tell them we're pinned down!" Sky shouted as Sun headed to the cockpit to do just that.
Dust blew into the fuselage, making everyone cough and duck down as visibility immediately decreased. Groose fired blindly into the mess to keep the enemy from trying to attack them while they were incapacitated.
"We're a medical helicopter you assholes!" Groose yelled. "Don't you people know this is a war crime?!"
The gunfire that tore through the helicopter begged to differ.
"Shit!" Groose hissed as he took cover beside Sky.
Then, out of nowhere, Sun bolted out of the cockpit and tossed something into the area outside. She slammed the fuselage door closed and the entire helicopter rocked with an explosion.
"Holy shit, Sun!" Groose laughed as he peeked over their cover. "Why the hell do you have grenades?!"
"We knew were going into a hot zone," Sun replied.
"Well we can't stay here," Sky remarked as he watched one of their medics grimace as another tended to his injury.
"I called for help," Sun said, grabbing her own gun. "Pipit and Karane are on their way."
Sky felt a little relieved hearing that. They flew the fully armored Black Loftwings - shooting them down was not going to be an easy feat.
Sky was still processing the fact that he'd been shot down. Who fires on a medical helicopter?!
His arm stung a little bit, and he scratched it a moment before more gunfire pelted the area. He grabbed Sun and shoved her out of the way.
Then the sound of gunfire seemed to double, and there was yelling. The door to the helicopter opened, and everyone inside immediately raised their weapons.
A tan woman with red hair entered, wearing an ally uniform. "Relax, I'm here to help."
Sky let out a sigh of relief.
"Mipha!" the woman called outside. "We have wounded, get in here!"
"Coming, Urbosa!"
Sky headed for the radio to get an ETA for their evac while the soldiers entered the helicopter. He finally felt like he could breathe again.
They were going to get out of this one in one piece.
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