The remaining two weeks actually end peacefully and on a COD that was dropping off supplies as well as a few personnel because a new JAG was needed after the last one broke his leg in a storm and a few other personnel as well Karen got on board so that she could go home

"Is this everyone?"

"Indeed it is sir"

Karen is soon back home and finishes school once again pretty much at the top of her class. That summer she decided to go to Hawaii with a few friends simply to see the Pearl Harbor memorial and also do some fishing while there. Unfortunately Karen would be unable to avoid the Coast Guard because of the fact that a storm came through while fishing and the boat sank in the storm meaning the Captain had to call for a rescue, the only good thing was that everyone managed to get into the life raft and the life raft hadn't been damaged so everyone was protected from the elements

"So about how long until they find us?"

"Could be a few hours, could be a few days we simply don't know yet"

"Well we have enough water to last us a few days but let's try not to drink any water the first day in order to save it"

"You have a point Karen"

Three days later Karen was the first up as she heard the sound of a helicopter, so she brought out a flare gun and used it to alert the chopper to their location. Once she saw the Coast Guard personnel she used military hand signals to identify how many people were there and also give them a basic update. Up in the chopper

"Sir one of the people is using military hand signals"

"Hm, then it might be best to talk to them, get the swimmer in the water and then get things ready for pick up"

The swimmer gets to the raft and Karen is the first person he sees

"Which one of you was using the military hand signals?"

"That would be me swimmer. We have two people injured that should go up first, one has a suspected fractured arm while the other has both a head wound and a suspected fractured ankle, both were injured before making it to the life raft tripping on the stairs, everyone else is fine no injuries that I know of however two of them can't swim and all of us are slightly dehydrated, I think for the head wound and ankle we'll need the litter for that one so that we don't risk further injury of the ankle by trying to force them into the basket"

"Okay, then that's what we'll do"

"And I'm going last, I can swim the best and honestly I have the best idea of conditions of the group so I can make decisions of who should go next while you're making sure the person is safely underway in the basket"

"Fine, afterwords you're going to explain how you know military hand signals and also how you're so calm"

"Your base commander will also want to know and I agree, I think the first person should be the head injury and ankle, then the suspected fractured arm, after that we'll see"

"Okay"

So the swimmer asks for the litter and the injured person is carefully placed into the litter and is then hoisted up to the chopper, the suspected arm fracture was next, then the older of the two that couldn't swim followed by the younger, after that the first mate went up because he was starting to suffer from the dehydration a bit more and needed fluids fast, then another passenger who was starting to get sea sick and needed medical attention, after that was the Captain and finally as soon as Karen saw the Captain in the basket she simply rolled out of the raft and then made sure that the raft would properly deflate so that no one would make a mistake of thinking that someone was in need of rescue and then swam to the swimmer and easily got herself in the basket. Twenty minutes later they were all back on base and Karen simply reported to the base commander both to thank him for his fast response and to explain how she knew military hand signals

"Lt. Kerenai reporting in sir"

"Lt. so that's how you knew the hand signals"

"Exactly sir, I came to thank you and your crew for your fast response and to explain how I knew the hand signals, I also think I should write up a report because I deliberately chose that vessel to go fishing"

"What do you mean?"

(Sighs) "I think you're going to want to sit down for this because I don't think you're going to like this"

So Karen gave a full and complete report which as she suspected the base commander didn't like one bit, after she wrote down her report she then called her family and the President to explain why she was at a Coast Guard base even though she had been given explicit instructions to stay away from the Coast Guard

"Sir they had to rescue us...sir I know that but...what other choice did I have?...no sir there was no other way...sir you'll have to read my report to...yes sir I understand...yes sir...yes sir...understood sir...sir if you read my report will you think about my actions?...yes sir, I understand...goodbye sir"

After Karen hangs up the base commander knew she had just been chewed out by someone pretty high in command and considering his security clearance he had a good idea as to who it was but didn't say anything because some of the younger officers were there and they didn't have the necessary clearance

"Just got chewed out by someone?"

"Oh yeah, not to mention that while they didn't say anything I know for a fact that my family isn't too happy with me either at the moment"

"Going to be grounded once you get back home?"

"I honestly have no idea, but it's possible"

"Well I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation, in the meantime we have your report and will act on it appropriately"

"I know you will, keep doing your jobs and keep safe while doing them"

"We'll do our best and you know that Kerenai, after all you know just how risky our job is considering you're an EDC kid"

"Yeah I know, just do your best and I'll be happy"

Karen leaves the base and finishes her vacation and she was indeed grounded for the rest of the summer once she got home. Once it hit August she returned to school where they had a new school building which had been finished during the summer and once she was old enough she started taking flying lessons during the weekend

"So what made you want to become a pilot?"

"Well I hope to become a SEAT once I'm old enough"

"A SEAT huh? I think you're going to be busy to qualify as a SEAT, especially if you decide to work for a National Park. I should know before I retired I was a SEAT so I know exactly what you need to learn beyond the basics so I think once you have the hours I will start to teach you what you need to know to become a SEAT but I can't be the one to get you certified"

"I understand, but any training that you think would be useful I'll accept"

Karen quickly gained both hours in the cockpit and was working towards getting her license, but during winter break shortly before she would gain the license she and her class decided to go on a class trip to Alaska, they had actually been invited by the school in Fairbanks and the school had accepted. Unfortunately the plane lost both pilots not to a hijack but to medical conditions that had been undiagnosed and the flight attendant asked if anyone had any flying experience and that's when Karen spoke up

"I do, it's only in small planes but I know the basics"

"Then we need you in the cockpit"

"Understood"

Karen quickly got into the cockpit and the first thing she did was activate the autopilot in order to buy her a little more time before anything else happened. After that she went to the emergency channel to report the situation

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday this is United Airlines 125, I am a passenger and we've lost both pilots to unknown causes"

"Passenger what is the current altitude and heading?"

"We are at 1500 ft heading left 010 mark 30 need to know the nearest airport"

"Do you have any flight experience?"

"I've been working towards my small plane certification since August but that's it, I have absolutely no clue how to fly a bigger aircraft like this one but autopilot is activated"

She's quickly given a trained pilot from United and is told that she would have to make a manual landing due to the fact that the autopilot did not land the plane

"Okay you're going to have to help me because that's the one thing left before I'm certified to fly small fixed wing aircraft"

"Okay I'll talk you through it don't worry, just listen to what I have to say and you'll make it through just fine, how much fuel do you have left?"

Karen looked and did a mental calculation because she knew that they had been told about a quick layover for fuel once they were up in the air but she hadn't been sure which airport they were supposed to do that at. And that's when she heard the alarm and as soon as she saw the alarm she knew she was in trouble

"Tower update, we are now losing engine number 2 and we still have way too much fuel for a safe landing, request permission to drop landing gear to burn the fuel off"

"Negative that might make you too unstable, how many engines do you have left?"

"Three, but considering the situation I might soon be down to two is there any other airport that's closer that can handle this type of aircraft?"

"Negative"

"Understood, let's hope that the rest of the engines hold out then"

"Agreed in the meantime I'm going to give you instructions for a fuel dump"

"Understood, standing by for fuel dump instructions"

Karen is given fuel dump instructions and once at the airport is guided into the landing sequence which she executes a bit hard but safely

"Good work there, the rescue crews will take it from there"

"Understood, best get the NTSB involved quickly, I'll be waiting for them inside the terminal since I know for a fact that they're going to want to question me, especially because I'm not a certified pilot quite yet"

"Just one question how many hours do you have left until you're certified?"

"I have about 3 hours of landings before I'm certified to become a small fixed wing pilot"

"Okay I think we'll have a few more questions for you once you're in the terminal"

Karen is taken to the terminal and the group that helped her land did indeed have a few more questions because as it turned out there was an NTSB investigator at the airport on the way home having finished a conference when the incident happened and his boss decided that he would be the lead investigator since he was there