This story is inspired by and dedicated to Lt. David A. Steeves USAF, who never gave up flying: even when it cost him his career and questioned his patriotism.
Kim Possible: Bailout
Disclaimer: As of this writing, I still do not own Kim Possible or anything affiliated with it.
Chapter One – Explosion at 33,500ft
By: recon228
The warm mid-May sun was just beginning its decent into the horizon as Kim Possible glanced out the Plexiglas cockpit of the aged military jet-trainer she was riding in. She watched the scenery below change gradually from harsh brown desert, to tan farmland, to green forested hills, and finally to the gray and white snowcapped granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada's. Looking at her watch she saw that it was just after seven pm local time.
It had only been twenty-two minutes since she and Ron had departed from Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California's Mojave Desert, and already the small two-seat Lockheed T-33 was skimming the mountain ranges at about 33,500 feet, on its way to Middleton, Colorado.
Bringing her gaze back to the instrument console in front of her, Kim pressed the button to activate her oxygen mask's built-in radio mic. "Thanks again for the ride, Lieutenant Steeves," she said, addressing the man in the pilot's seat in front of her. She was immensely grateful that the young Air Force Lieutenant had offered her and Ron a ride home after their latest battle with Dr. Drakken and Shego.
Had Steeves not been flying out when he was, the two teens would have been forced to spend the night in Barstow. Not that there was anything wrong with Barstow, they just had school the next day and Mr. Barkin was quickly growing tired of their mission-related tardiness.
Acknowledging her remark, the red-helmeted lieutenant turned his head slightly and pressed a button on the throttle in his left hand. "Hey my pleasure, Miss Possible," he replied in a friendly southern drawl. "I'd hate to imagine what would've happened if y'all hadn't stopped that crazy blue fella' and his girlfriend from getting away with our new stealth prototype."
"Stealth prototype? What stealth prototype?" responded Kim in a mockingly innocent tone of voice.
Following Drakken and Shego's apprehension, the Base Commander had called both Kim and Ron into his office and made it perfectly clear to the two heroes that he did not want the details of their recent mission to get out. 'Confidentiality' and 'need-to-know' had become rather common phrases to both teens over the course of their missions, so the request for silence was by no means unusual to either of them.
Back in the front seat, Steeves laughed and shook his head. "Yeah right, my mistake. I'll tell you what though; the US Government owes both of you a debt of gratitude for what you did, especially you Mr. Stoppable. Man, it must have taken a lot of guts to call their bluff and stand in front of the jet like that!" He shook his head from side-to-side in awe, still amazed by Ron's Tiananmen Square re-enactment earlier on the base's runway.
"Uh, actually, my shoe was kinda stuck in a drainage ditch," Ron replied, nervously joining into the conversation. "I was, y'know… running away… and it snagged. I would've taken it off and run, but when I saw them in the jet rolling toward me, I kinda froze."
Hearing that comment, Steeves actually managed to turn his entire body in the cramped cockpit and stared at the blond teen––or more specifically, the young redhead who was blocking the teen––for a few seconds before lifting the tinted visor on his helmet. "You know, son, you might want to re-word that story a little bit when you tell it to the ladies at school." His lips spread into a sly grin. "Y'know, just a suggestion."
Since Kim was blocking his view, Steeves wasn't able to see Ron blush out of embarrassment.
With an amused grin, Kim turned her attention to her partner and fellow high school Senior, seventeen-year-old Ron Stoppable, whose lap she was currently occupying in the back seat of the cramped jet. "How you doing down there, Ron?"
"Eh, not too bad," Ron replied cheerfully. He lifted his legs up onto the balls of his feet for a few seconds before dropping them back down. "Legs are getting a bit numb though. You haven't gained weight recently, have you?"
Steeves fought to hold back his laughter as Kim delivered a swift elbow-jab to her partner's ribs.
After the commotion had died back down, Steeves once again keyed his radio mic and waved his free hand around the inside of the aged military aircraft. "Sorry again about the accommodations, but I was the only one flying out today."
"It's no big, we've had to rely on worse," Kim reassured the man, though she couldn't remember ever having to strap herself against her friend's chest before just to get a ride home. She hoped the arrangement didn't make Ron too uncomfortable.
"Hey, KP," Ron spoke up in a humorous tone. "What do you think Josh would do if he found out you spent an hour and a half sitting on my lap?"
"I don't know, Ron," Kim replied mockingly. "What do you think Tara would think about it?"
Hearing his girlfriend's name, Ron instantly turned several shades redder. "Oh, right… well, I guess it's a good thing this mission was classified, huh?"
"I don't have to retell all the details if you don't."
"Deal," Ron replied, giving Kim a thumbs-up. Once she had returned the gesture, he turned his attention back to Steeves. "So, Lieutenant, where are you taking this piece of junk anyway?"
"Ron!"
"What?"
"Don't insult the man's plane!"
"That's alright, Miss Possible," Lt. Steeves laughed. "This isn't even my plane. I'm actually shuttling this old Cold War relic to the AMARC facility at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona for decommission. Turns out we didn't even know we still had this dang thing until a base inventory found it abandoned in one of the auxiliary hangers last week."
"Really? So when was the last time this thing was even flown?" asked Ron, suddenly feeling slightly apprehensive about their current transportation.
"My best guess would be sometime during the Johnson Administration," Steeves replied jokingly.
Kim and Ron both exchanged nervous glances.
"Don't worry though," he reassured them. "I checked this thing out before we took off and everything's in perfect working order."
As if on cue, a small red light began flashing on both the front and back control panel.
Seeing the flashing light, Steeves reached forward and flipped a few switches on the control panel. When that failed to do anything, he leaning back in his seat and muttered something colorful and anatomically incorrect under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Kim asked nervously. "What's that light mean?"
"That's an auxiliary warning light," Steeves responded calmly. "It means our primary ELT is off-line."
"W-w-what's an ELT?" Ron asked in a clearly panicked voice.
"It's our Emergency Locator Transmitter. But don't worry; it doesn't affect the aircraft's flight."
"It doesn't?"
"Nah, you only need it if you crash." Steeves turned to face both teens once again as a playful grin spread across his five o'clock shadow. "And that's not gonna–"
He was interrupted mid-sentence as a tremendous explosion rocked the entire aircraft and plunged the teens into blackness.
---
"KIM!"
Kim was brought back into consciousness by Ron frantically screaming in her ear. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious, only that she had been unconscious for some period of time. Inside the crippled jet, thick black smoke had filled the cockpit, stinging her eyes and assaulting her nostrils with an acrid smell of burning rubber.
The gentle whine of the jet's engine that she had heard earlier was now replaced with a screeching howl as the plane hurtled toward the jagged mountain peaks below. Inside the cockpit, the sounds of wailing alarms could be heard going off, warning the plane's occupants of their impending doom.
As she peered forward through the thick layer of smoke, Kim could just barely make out the form of Lt. Steeves. The hotshot pilot was slumped forward in his seat, unresponsive.
Unknown to Kim at the time, the initial explosion had caused an electrical surge to shoot through the plane, which projected a shard of metal from the destroyed control panel into the young man's neck, severing his carotid artery. He had bled to death in a matter of seconds.
Below her in the back of the doomed plane, she could hear and feel Ron pounding on her shoulders and screaming in her ear. She was only able to distinguish one word from his screams…
"EJECT!"
Kim spread her legs and looked between them at the neon-yellow handle with the words PULL TO EJECT printed in black at the base of their antique ejection seat. Without further hesitation she reached down and yanked the handle toward her, bringing both arms into her chest as the Plexiglas canopy jettisoned into the frigid sky, followed shortly after by the two frightened teens.
The last thing Kim remembered before unconsciousness once again took her was the stinging feeling of cold air pummeling the areas of her skin not covered by her jumpsuit, as well as the far-too-near image of snowcapped peaks spiraling towards them below.
To be continued...
