The Sun

Rescue

Jackson held her in his arms as she slept. He was careful not to move around because it was a light sleep and he didn’t want to wake her. He had been worried as hell when they got back from the rescue mission to find her sedated. The admitting Doctor told him that she’d had some kind of panic attack and had to be put out. Jackson wanted to knock the guy’s lights in.  He asked Ross to stay and examine her as soon as she awoke. His friend had been as concerned about the episode as he had and readily agreed. Jackson felt a lot better now that Ross had gone over her test results with him while they waited for her to wake up.  The two twits that had done her workup had done and re-done a wide array of tests, scans and x-rays but missed the few tests that Ross had felt were the most crucial. He had ordered them for first thing in the morning. The main areas of concern now were the vision problems and the amnesia, and given the results of what had already been done the Doc was optimistic. There was no infection in her head wound. Her stitches had healed well. No swelling of the brain either which was very good news.
She moved a little in her sleep. Jackson hugged her and rubbed his face into her hair. God, she smelled good! It felt so right to hold her like this. “I wish I knew your name.” He said in a tight whisper. He’d been calling her Cuz’ for the simple reason that he didn’t know what else to call her. He didn’t want to get to know her by one name only to feel at sea when they learned her real name. Besides he was sure that her own name was going to suit her real well. She had an aura about her, an undeniable charisma. He sure was liking her a whole lot right now! He was getting pretty uncomfortable in the nether regions and needed to get his mind off how soft and delectable she felt. As difficult as it was, Jackson did find something else to occupy his thoughts for a while.

Jackson let his mind wander back to the rescue. It had been a trying mission. They flew in blind the whole way due to the storm. A risky trip because the communication radio had been reduced to incomprehensible static for most of the way. That had made it difficult considering that this type of rescue depends heavily on radio contact. The chopper was being pushed off course by heavy winds. Everyone was feeling tense. S.R.T. will not usually risk a team in inclement weather conditions but it had already been too long and there had been a break in the weather. They were expecting it to stay clear for another day but the winds had changed and brought more snow. The team was feeling apprehensive when the base radiod in.

“Base to Helli-36…Come in Helli-36.”

Dirk was flying. Ross had command. Peter was point and I was recall. Ross picked up the radio. “Base this is Helli-36…Go ahead.” 

Janet Crewson was on at S.R.T. dispatch. “Hel…loo …Ross…  an’t…off …Lat..92.” 

I could tell that Ross was really feeling anxious. His voice was tight as he tried to get a clear ok from S.R.T.

“Helli-36 to base…10-9. Come again.” 

“Command to Helli-36… We are experiencing heavy interference switch to 3.” 

Ross changed the radio channel to 3 and confirmed with base. “Helli-36 to command…Confirm switch to 3…over.”

The radio had been cutting in and out but suddenly it hummed. “Helli-36 this is command…Confirm 10-2. Receiving well.”

Dirk needed bearings for the flight path and location. His mouth was white with the effort it took to keep the Huge chopper in the air.

“Come on Ross get our Longs before the damn Communication System Provider goes down!” 

Ross nodded. “Helli-36 to command…we need a bearings check…we are off course…over.”

Janet chuckled “10-4 Helli-36…Give me your 10-20.”

Dirk called out the latitude and longitude for Ross who repeated them to Base. Janet sounded concerned and left off protocol.

“Ross you are way out…Tell Dirk that he needs to correct hard Long14 and pull lat to 43 south-southeast… I want another 10-20 in 5…over.”

Ross looked at Dirk “10-4.” They said in unison.   

Things had gone about as well as could be expected after that. This sort of thing usually is a little hard. It is never easy to search for people who were in all likelihood dead or dying. This time had been harder than usual given that one of the dead had been a friend and one of the dying a small child. They had lost the pilot too. Dam shame that was. He was one of the best in the area and had a great wife and a couple of kids.

Jackson knew the family well and would make sure he attended the funeral. We worked hard in the storm but visibility was poor and everyone was very cold. In the end, we lost one of the passengers too. The man died of exposure and blood loss. Given his injuries, he never would have survived anyway but it was still hard. They worked like dogs to save the child. No one wanted to go home with that on his or her plate. The little girl had not been injured too badly but there had not been enough of her to withstand the injury, the shock, and the cold.

She was now in critical condition in I.C.U. They expected to upgrade her condition through the night though. Thank God that none of the dead were her parents. That would have been tragic. The other four passengers had been pretty badly shaken up but had non-life-threatening injuries. The crewmembers besides the pilot were okay too (the co-pilot and one flight attendant/emergency operator).  Just as we were lifting out the radio buzzed to life and Janet’s voice usually cheerful barked out

“Helli-36…This is command …We’ve upgraded to a 10-35…I repeat we are no longer 10-33…We are upgrading to 10-35…Confirm…Get your guys out of there now Ross!”

We lifted off the ground as Ross picked up the radio. “Helli-36 to command…Confirm 10-35…We are requesting a 10-19.” 

There was silence for the space of one heartbeat. Everyone cheered as base radioed back. “Helli-36 you are clear…10-6.” ♦️