Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Disney. All OCs belong to me.

Chapter 1

"Lieutenant Chopper! This is Commander Grayson. Report your position, please. Over!"

"Commander Grayson… I am within sight of the base. Will be landing within five minutes. Have the emergency services on stand-by near the helipad. Patient is critical, but stable. Over."

"Copy that. Over and out."

Picking up a pair of binoculars with his forklift arms, Commander Grayson peered out into the grey swirl of cloud and sea mist that blew over the base. He heard the red, white and black Sikorsky MH-60 Jayhawk approaching long before he saw her. He sighed with relief as he watched her fly over the control tower where he was stationed. As the largest search and rescue helicopter at the base, Lieutenant Sara Chopper was a valuable asset to the West Florida Coast Guard. She was a very hard worker, who often had to be forced to take leave. It was clear that she loved her job, and for that reason, she'd progressed fast through the military ranks. She didn't like fighting, which is why she'd decided to join the Coast Guard instead of the army or navy, but Commander Grayson had seen her take down many drug dealers and illegal immigrants without a second thought for her own safety.

Commander Grayson drove out onto the helipad in time to see Lieutenant Chopper's patient being transferred into the waiting ambulance. The car had sustained massive internal injuries while working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, during the hurricane that was rapidly approaching the coast.

Driving over to the helicopter, Commander Grayson saw that she looked extremely exhausted.

"How long has it been since you last slept, Lieutenant?" he asked her firmly.

"Over twelve hours, sir."

"Sign off from duty, get something to drink, and then go to your hanger. Hurricane Jasper should make landfall tonight, so all aircraft will be grounded until then tomorrow morning. I'll need you to be sharp for any rescues that may occur then."

Sara stifled the urge to yawn. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She rolled away across the tarmac towards the café. She saw other search and rescue planes and helicopters landing and preparing to take shelter from the hurricane. The wind had really picked up since she'd landed.

At the café, Sara ordered a drink of oil. While she was waiting for it, one of the café workers refilled her fuel tank for her. She couldn't help flinching as the cold liquid rushed into her. She watched as some of the Petty Officers hurried around the base, boarding up windows and ensuring all loose items were secure.

"Gonna be quite a storm, ain't it?" a Lieutenant Commander said beside her.

"Yes," Sara agreed.

"I hear that you're up for promotion, Lieutenant," he continued. "Good luck with it."

"Thank you, sir."

An alarm began echoing all around the base. After it had rung three times, a voice rang out over the loudspeakers.

"All vehicles MUST go to their hangers and garages immediately! I repeat, all vehicles…"

The voice was drowned out by another strong gust of wind. Sara saw a forklift almost get blown off his wheels, but he just managed to save himself and scurry inside the shelter of a nearby building.

"Cancel my oil," Sara instructed one of the waiters. She then headed towards her hanger, on the other side of the main runway.

Sara had almost reached her hanger, when she saw Commander Grayson talking sharply to a Captain.

"…It's too dangerous! We only have one aircraft who is structurally capable of battling this storm, and I've ordered her to sign off from duty."

"Well, order her to sign back on!" the Captain shouted.

"She's gone well over her hours already!"

"There are seven lives at stake here!"

"Excuse me, sirs, but may I ask what the problem is?" Sara asked.

"Lieutenant Chopper," the Captain greeted her. "You're just the person we wanted to talk to. We've had an emergency call come through. A fishing trawler with six crew members on board has struck a reef, and he's sinking fast. You're the only aircraft capable of battling these winds, but your commander here doesn't want you to go."

Sara gave Commander Grayson a withering glance. "What are the co-ordinates, sir?"

Ten minutes later, Sara took off into the storm. Once she was safely in the air, she turned on her lights. Hundreds of feet below her, the ocean waves swirled up thousands of white caps. Then the rain started. Sara promptly lowered her visor to protect her eyes from the stinging rain. Her radar bleeped once, indicating that she was getting close to her target co-ordinates.

Soon, she was right over the spot where the trawler should be. Lowering herself right down so she was about fifty feet above the waves, she looked around in the fading light with her torches. There was no sign of the trawler. A sick feeling rose up in her tank. Was she too late?

"Mayday! Mayday!" a voice called weakly over her radio.

"This is the Coast Guard," Sara replied. "What are your current co-ordinates? Over."

There was no reply. But then, in the distance, Sara saw a flare shoot into the sky. Frowning with determination, she flew quickly towards it.

Sure enough, the flare had come from the sinking trawler. Sara lowered herself to a safe distance above the trawler. The Captain's mouth was now below sea level, which explained why he hadn't been able to respond to her on the radio. On the deck, six forklifts were gathered in a group, shouting urgently to Sara. Once Sara was in a good position above them, she lowered her sling.

One by one, Sara pulled all of the forklifts up inside of her. They kept shouting at her from her doorway, begging for her to save their Captain.

"Get back inside me!" Sara finally ordered them. At the same time, she lowered her hook. The Captain had sunk so far below the waterline, that only his eyes were still visible. The Captain's eyes sent her a pleading look.

Swinging her hook back and forth, Sara tried to catch it onto a railing of the Captain's deck. It finally caught onto something, but as soon as Sara tried to pull the Captain back up to the surface, whatever she'd caught onto broke, and the Captain sank down even further.

"No!" Sara shouted desperately when she saw the Captain's eyelids flutter closed.

"You've gotta save him!" one of the forklifts shouted desperately.

But it was too late. With a final gargle, the Captain disappeared beneath the waves. Tears filled Sara's eyes. During her six years in the Coast Guard, she'd never once lost anyone. In a state of shock, she methodically took note of the Captain's last know co-ordinates. Then, ignoring the shouts from the forklifts inside her, she closed the doors. With tears flowing from her eyes, mixing with the rain, she started to fly back towards the base.

…

The hurricane was still blowing fiercely as Sara approached the base with her grieving cargo. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically. The darkness of the night and the storm didn't help her feel any better.

"Commander Grayson?" she called tiredly over the radio. "This is Lieutenant Chopper. I have the base in sight. We'll need paramedics on stand-by for the six crewmen. Over."

"Reading you, Lieutenant Chopper. Copy that. What happened to the Captain? Over."

Sara hesitated before she answered. "I… I lost him… Over."

Commander Grayson also hesitated. "Come and see me in my office after you land. Over and out."

Sara landed a bit more roughly than she usually did on the helipad. The jolt rattling throughout her whole body made her realise that this wasn't just a horrendous nightmare. The base's paramedics ushered the crewmen out of her, escorting them over to the base hospital. Once they had gone, Sara made her way over to Commander Grayson's hanger, which also contained his office. She shook the rain off herself in the doorway.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Come in, Lieutenant,"

Sara did so, and she parked in front of his desk, sighing despondently. Commander Grayson also sighed before he spoke.

"What happened?"

"I managed to get all the crewmen on board, but the Captain was sinking too fast. I should've hooked him first, and then rescued the crewmen. This is all my fault, sir."

Commander Grayson took a piece of paper out of a drawer. "Time to make out a report. Do you have the co-ordinates of the Captain's last known position?"

"Yes sir." And Sara told him.

"Good. Right, well, since this is the first time you've ever lost someone during a rescue, I'm going to give you a referral to see the base counsellor as soon as this storm is over."

Sara nodded slowly, but her mind was racing. Did Commander Grayson think that she was weak or something? That she'd never encountered death before? Begrudgingly, she took the referral from the Commander.

"Thank you, sir," she whispered.

"You may go now. Get some rest, and we'll discuss this again in the morning."

"Yes, sir."

Outside the Commander's hanger, Sara tore up the referral with her front wheels. She didn't need it. She didn't need any help. It wasn't like the base had never lost someone during a rescue before. But the look on the trawler Captain's face, and his last words as he weakly called out his mayday haunted her. In her mind's eye, she relived the tragedy over and over again as she made her way slowly through the driving wind and rain back to her hanger.

Once she was inside her hanger, she looked around. Her eyes settled on a photograph of herself as a young Petty Officer, with her first Commander. Her Commander had been so keen for promotion, that he'd made a mistake and it had cost the life of a light-aircraft that had run out of fuel. The plane had ended up crashing into the ocean, and the Commander's career had crashed too. He'd been demoted and, unable to cope with the humiliation that went with that, he'd ended up committing suicide.

Sara shuddered at the memory, and she realised that there was only one course of action open to her. She'd have to go AWOL. She knew the consequences she'd face if she was caught, but she needed to get away. The prospect of being blamed and demoted for her mistake frightened her more than the prospect of serving a prison sentence for going AWOL. Thinking quickly, she decided what she'd do. She'd fly north-west across the States. Alaska would be a safe place for her to hide until she'd decided where she'd go to make her new life.

Taking only her most valuable positions, including her service medals, she left her hanger. The rain was still pounding down, and the winds were much stronger now. For a moment, she hesitated, wondering if she'd be able to take off. Rolling to the furthest corner of the main runway, she started her engine. After a moment, she took off. The sound of the wind drowned out the sound of her loud engine and the distinct whirring of her long blades. She flew higher and higher until she'd completely disappeared into the heart of the raging storm.