Author's Note 1: Kendall and Logan have gone this far only to be in danger again of losing their lives as the aircraft begins to be consumed by fire. Will this be the end of them, or will there be another miracle as Fate tests them again with her mysterious and cruel ways?… Let's find out on the Final Chapter of TERROR AND TRUTH IN THE SKY… Wow it sounded like a TV drama announcement… LOL… But seriously, I hope you'll enjoy this! :3
Author's Note 2: By the way, to make things more fun, I kinda made a photo reference blog post on my Tumblr, which you can access in the link below (just replace the dash between btrandkittens, tumblr and com with periods, coz FF keeps removing those parts :3)
btrandkittens-tumblr-com/post/99339042127/photo-references-for-terror-and-truth-in-the-sky-kogan
TERROR AND TRUTH IN THE SKY
Final Chapter (and Epilogue)
"Wake up, Kendall Knight!" a mysterious voice screams at Kendall…
Kendall jolts back to consciousness as he tries to figure out what's going on. As he looks at the grass and dirt strewn all over the cockpit windows, and the tilted position of the cockpit, Kendall finally remembers that they have performed an emergency landing, and that two out of three of their landing gears collapsed, sending them veering off the runway and into the grassy ground near it.
The captain then looks to his co-pilot and sees that the brunette is still unconscious and slumped forward. Kendall unbuckles his seatbelt and shakes Logan's shoulder.
"Logie… Logie… Logie? LOGIE! Wake up!" Kendall shouts at his boyfriend.
Logan jolts, and lifts his head as he opens his eyes. Logan is also finally awake.
"Wha… What happened?" Logan asked while in a daze.
"I think we made it!" Kendall says. "I think an angel helped us by telling me to wake up… I was seeing only white all around me, then a booming voice came which told me to wake up… Good thing I woke up just in time… And now we need to evacuate!"
"Agreed, Kindle," Logan acknowledges as he fully wakes up.
As Logan grabs the fallen QRH on the floor between his feet, Kendall proceeds to shut down all systems as part of his instincts and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). He quickly shuts down the switches for both Engines 1 and 2. They need to be shut down or else, one or more evacuating passengers might get sucked into them and be killed if the engines were still running. He also turns off the Seat Belt On sign, the APU system, and all flight-related electrical systems. Kendall also pushes the three fire extinguisher buttons for the two engines and the APU engine, as a precaution, to avoid more fires from breaking out in the aircraft. Now that it is safe for evacuation, Kendall grabs his intercom microphone and shouts into it so that everybody can evacuate. "Cabin crew, begin evacuation, IMMEDIATELY!"
Kendall then jumps out of his seat, unlocks and opens the cockpit door, and repeats his order of evacuation in front of the passenger cabin areas of the Business and Economy classes, just to be sure. As he continues screaming "Evacuate!" cabin crew members rush towards all doors and open them using the emergency method. The emergency opening method will enable the escape slides to deploy so that the passengers can slide safety down to the ground and run away from the aircraft. The cabin crew members then order the passengers to evacuate down the slides and run away from the jet.
Kendall then returns to his seat to proceed with their full shutdown procedures before the two of them leave the aircraft as well. Before Logan starts the QRH checklist for emergency shutdown and evacuation, he looks at the right side of the cockpit window and sees flames coming out from the right wing.
"Kindle, there's a fire on the right wing! But I think we can still complete the shutdown and evacuation checklist!" Logan says
"Okay, no problem with me. Let's proceed," Kendall acknowledges
Logan and Kendall exchange checklist challenges and answers.
"Engines?"
"THROTTLE IDLE AND OFF"
"Fuel pumps?"
"OFF"
"Ignition Crank?"
"OFF"
"APU?"
"OFF"
"Fire extinguisher bottles?"
"DISCHARGED"
"Emergency path lights?"
"ON"
"Generators?"
"OFF"
"Batteries?"
"CENTRAL – ON, THE REST – OFF"
"ECAM Evacuation door status?"
"ALL OPEN – ALL SLIDES DEPLOYED!"
"Hydraulics?"
"OFF"
"Avionics main switch?"
*click* "OFF!"
"Cockpit shutdown complete, Captain!"
"Thanks, F.O.!"
"Now let's check if everybody's out of the plane and then we jump out as well," Kendall says
"Yup, agreed" Logan nods.
The two then hear the wails of the fire truck sirens as the LAX fire department reaches the aircraft and begin spraying the right wing with fire extinguishing foam to stop the raging fires on the right wing from spreading further.
Capt. Kendall and F/O Logan then rush outside the cockpit and starts scanning the seats for passengers that are unconscious or unable to get out of their seats. Kendall takes the right aisle, and Logan takes the left aisle as they comb each and every row of seats.
"Business Class evacuated!" Logan announces.
"Double-checked!" Kendall shouts back.
As they go further aft of the jet, they also open the lavatories to see if nobody is in there. So far, nobody's left behind.
As they continue through the economy class, Logan sees a man slumped on his seat. He hurriedly approaches him and nudges his shoulders to wake him up. "Sir? Sir? Hey, buddy! We need to get off this plane now!" The man still doesn't respond and so Logan reaches down to unbuckle his seatbelt and pulls the man away from the window seat. With all his might, Logan lifts the 6'0" stocky male passenger onto his shoulders as he makes his way to the nearest door. He then positions the man on top of the inflated escape slide, when the man finally wakes up, looks at Logan and asks, "Hey… Did we make it?" Logan smiles at him and says, "Yes we did, sir, yes we did…" And he pushes the man down the slide and into the arms of the cabin crew and rescue personnel at the bottom of the slide to take him to a nearby ambulance.
Further down the aisle of the economy class section, Kendall hears an old frail voice trying to shout "Help me! Help me" Kendall is then able to find where the sound is coming from and sees an old woman having difficulty unbuckling her seatbelt. "Help me, sir!" the old woman begs at the green-eyed blonde captain. "Of course, Ma'am. I'll help you," Kendall says with a reassuring smile as he kneels beside the old woman to unfasten her seatbelt that partially became jammed with the pressure against it when the old woman was slightly thrown about during the crash landing. The seatbelt buckle finally unfastens, and Kendall decides to lift the old woman up to avoid her from having further injuries. He then gently places her on top of a slide on the nearby door behind the woman's row, and signal to the crew below to catch her. The old woman was saying "Thank you" to the captain as he pushes her down to start her slide down to the ground and into the hands of the waiting rescue crew.
Kendall and Logan continue their inspection of the cabin and see that there's a woman with her baby, with her seatbelt stuck. The two approach her to help her. "Sirs! Please take only my baby instead! I want her to live!" the woman tearfully says. "No, Ma'am, we'll make sure both of you survive this," Kendall and Logan assures the distraught mother. Logan carries the baby in his arms as he steps back for Kendall to unfasten the mother's seatbelt. It was also jammed, but with Kendall's adrenaline running through his veins, he easily removes the jammed buckle and frees the woman. He assists the mother into the nearest door on the side away from the fire and lets her down on the evacuation slide.
"No more passengers, Kindle!" Logan announces, still holding the mother's baby.
"Okay then, let's get out of here! You go first 'coz you have the baby!" Kendall announces with a victorious smile on his face.
"Okay, Kindle!" Logan answers as he sits on top of the slide and proceeds to slide down the evacuation slide, while carefully holding and protecting the baby. The cabin crew and rescue crew immediately grab hold of both of them and the rescue crew takes the baby from Logan's arms and gives it to the mother as they are both taken away for first aid treatment.
Kendall then looks towards the front of the aircraft and confirms that there are no more passengers inside the cabin, and he jumps down the evacuation slide as well.
As he reaches the bottom of the slide, he is helped in standing up by his boyfriend Logan, and they embrace briefly before they run towards the area away from the plane where the survivors are gathered. They reach the area and they look at the runway… They could see the right engine of the plane on the runway, together with the right main landing gear and nose gear, and pieces of metal scattered on the runway asphalt. Kendall and Logan look with wide eyes at the amazing fortunate turn of events that they had. Their plane could've gone out entirely in flames with the damage they have incurred. But no, Fate has been merciful to them.
After Captain Kendall and First Officer Logan coordinate with the cabin crew in accounting for all the passengers and crew, they are happy that everybody is accounted for. Everybody is safe. Everybody is alive. And almost everybody is uninjured, except for some who had some minor cuts, minor bruises and mildly sprained ankles. Despite the odds that have been thrown to them by Fate, Kendall and Logan were able to save everybody from doom.
As the passengers see the two handsome pilots who saved them from certain death, they surround the two and clap their hands, cheer and scream about how thankful they are to their heroes.
Kendall and Logan then look at each other, and amidst the applause and cheers, they begin to return to the topic that they've been wanting to discuss again as soon as they finished their responsibilities as pilots.
"Kindle, do you still love me after all these?" Logan asks.
"Of course, Logie! I love you so much, my Hortense Logan Mitchell" Kendall answers with the sweetest smile ever.
"Oh, of course you had to say my complete name huh?" Logan playfully scowls as he grabs Kendall's black neck tie and pulls the tall blonde pilot towards him.
"Well, Logie, do you still love me after all that has happened today?" Kendall asks in return.
"Of course, I love you Kendall Donald Knight!" Logan says with a sly smile as he continues pulling Kendall nearer to him, in the middle of all the passengers who hail them as their heroes… correction, as their ridiculously handsome heroes.
And Kendall and Logan embrace each other and lock themselves in a kiss. As they continue kissing and embracing, the crowds of rescued passengers around them applauded and cheered louder than ever before. It was an awesome sight for them that these two good-looking heroes have saved their lives from certain death, and furthermore because Captain Kendall Donald Knight and First Officer Hortense Logan Mitchell have turned from colleagues into something more… colleagues AND boyfriends…
The experience has totally sealed their fate forever: as a couple.
EPILOGUE
Investigation by the NTSB and FAA revealed that the A330 used in the flight suffered from multiple clogged fuel lines and was worsened by contamination of the aircraft fuel by dirt and water in the Hawk Air refueling tank. The engines died initially due to clogged lines, but were able to restart when power was restored as the debris clogging the lines got dislodged. The NTSB and FAA also found that the engines and hydraulic systems of the aircraft have already deteriorated badly, and the cockpit electrical wirings have been tampered with to save costs instead of sending the aircraft to Airbus itself or a separate maintenance contractor for expensive but correct maintenance. Captain Kendall Knight and First Officer Logan Mitchell were lucky that the hydraulic system did not totally break down, or else they would've not been able to stabilize the plane even when they restarted their engines. Furthermore, the NTSB and FAA found that all black boxes (the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder) have been intentionally deactivated by the maintenance crew to avoid incriminating evidence in the event of an accident. In a twist of fate, this was also a good thing to Kendall and Logan, since no device had recorded what they were saying to each other during that moment. Twisted minds in the legal system could've used it against them as evidence of 'negligence of duties' (due to personal conversation) despite the heroism that they did. Investigations also found evidence of rampant falsified maintenance documents and bribery of several corrupt government officials. All aircraft of Hawk Air were also found totally unfit to fly, and all the flights of Hawk Air were actually close to disaster each time they flew…
Furthermore, Captain Kendall Knight and First Officer Logan Mitchell were commended and were given multiple awards for their heroism.
11 months after the incident, justice has been swiftly served for the passengers and crew of the fateful Hawk Air flight. Owner George Hawk, together with several investors, maintenance officers and the corrupt government officials involved, were found guilty of multiple counts of negligence, falsification of documents and attempted manslaughter, and have been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chances of parole. Passengers and crew of the involved flight cheer as they hear the verdict either inside the courtroom or on their TVs. The passengers and crew were also given 1 million US dollars each in damages, and Hawk Air has been suspended and shut down by the FAA for their negligent practices and for endangering thousands of innocent lives.
One month after the verdict was handed out, Kendall drives his second BMW Hybrid into his driveway. When he resigned from Hawk Air, Gustavo Rocque, owner of competitor airline Rocque Airways, invited Kendall to work for his airline. Logan was also invited to be part of the airline. And so, Kendall and Logan's pilot careers continued with Rocque Airways. Gustavo grew fond of the couple, because of both their heroism in saving the flight from total doom, and for being a good example of a perfect same-sex couple to their colleagues. Gustavo always made sure that the new Captain and the First Officer boyfriends were always on the same flight as often as possible as they began their careers at their new employer.
As Kendall gets out of his car, he hears a honk from a distance. He sees Logan driving his brand-new Mercedes-Benz S-class onto the same driveway. Kendall greets his brunette colleague and boyfriend with a smile. Logan moved in with Kendall so they could be together more often. As Logan steps out of the car, he runs towards Kendall and they embrace and kiss. Kendall puts his arms over Logan's shoulder, and Logan also puts his arms around Kendall's shoulders, and continue their sweet, warm and romantic kiss. Kendall's blue coat rubs against Logan's own blue coat, with the dark blue of their uniforms contrasted by four bands on both of their cuffs that indicate their rank - Logan is now also a Captain. However, Gustavo still made sure that the two captains/boyfriends are on the same flight as often as possible, by assigning either Logan or Kendall as a relief captain, especially when they fly to long international routes, such as London, Tokyo, Moscow and Johannesburg. There were also plenty of times when both the four-bar captains pilot the aircraft together instead of the other one being a relief pilot. Kendall and Logan both really love their jobs as pilots more now, since they are living out the dream of their lives of being airline captains, and flying together as a couple.
"Hey, Kindle babe!" Logan says with a smile. "I missed you when I had to be on a separate flight."
"Me too, Logie Bear," Kendall answers with an equally sweet smile. "I'm glad to know you're back, and now we can have dinner together again and sleep together in our bedroom. Luckily, Gustavo told me we'll be flying together for the next six months"
"That's great!" Logan beams, as he hugs his boyfriend again and they engage into another passionate kiss.
"C'mon, let's make dinner," Kendall says as he puts one arm on the shoulder of his fellow captain.
"What are we havin' tonight?" Logan asks.
"I'm in the mood for chicken cacciatore," Kendall answers.
"Sounds good! But not as delicious as you," Logan says with a grin as he gently grabs his boyfriend's face to kiss him once again.
"And I want you to control me with your 'joystick'" Logan playfully says as he brings one hand and touches Kendall's crotch.
"Oh Logie, my horny captain!" Kendall says with an excited giggle. "Let's do it after dinner, and I'll make sure I'll do 'maximum thrust' on you"
They both laugh at the horrible pilot puns they were making and continue walking towards the door.
And as they unlock and open the door, they lean on the door frame to hug and kiss each other once again, and before they close the door of their house, they smile at each other…
"Happy 1st anniversary, Logie!"
"Happy 1st anniversary too, Kindle!"
And with Captain Kendall's green eyes starting to brim with tears, and Captain Logan's chocolate eyes already shedding tears, they join their lips together, and as they separate them, they smile once again ever so sweetly at each other…
"I love you, Kindle…"
"I love you too, Logie…"
-THE END-