Chapter 7 - The Descent Over the Bernese AlpsThe storm outside was a monster of grinding ice and howling wind.
Through the reinforced windshield, jagged peaks of black granite loomed out of the swirling whiteout like the teeth of a sleeping dragon. The altimeter spun downward with dizzying speed: 12,000 feet... 9,000 feet... 6,000 feet...
"We're too high for the valley approach!" Nia shouted, her eyes darting across the radar map. "The ridge is at 5,000!"
"We have to thread the needle through the Gasteren Valley," Jyn shouted back, his biceps bulging as he fought the crosswinds trying to flip the aircraft upside down. The jet groaned, metal rivets screaming in protest against the unbearable g-force.
Thor stood in the doorway behind them, his massive body braced against the bulkhead, letting out a low, steady growl that vibrated through the floorboards.
"Jyn, the landing gear won't lock!" Nia warned, hammering her hand against the diagnostic panel. "Hydraulic pressure is at zero!"
"We're not using the gear," Jyn said coldly. "We're belly-landing on the compound's emergency snow strip."
Nia’s breath hitched. "On ice?! At two hundred knots?!"
"If we hit the snow too soft, we cartwheel. If we hit it too hard, we break apart." Jyn’s face was a mask of cold, unyielding iron. "Brace yourself, Nia."
He cut the remaining fuel to the engines, plunging the jet into a silent, screaming dive straight toward a narrow shelf of white mountain plateau carved out of the pine forests below.
The world dissolved into a blinding wall of white.
Then—
CRASH.
The impact felt like hitting a solid brick wall at terminal velocity. The cabin filled with the deafening roar of grinding snow, tearing metal, and shattering glass. The oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling with a collective hiss.
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Nia wrapped her entire body around little Leo, squeezing her eyes shut as the fuselage spun three hundred and sixty degrees across the frozen sheet of ice, throwing sparks that illuminated the whiteout like fireworks.
And then, with one final, bone-jarring jolt that knocked the wind completely out of her lungs, everything went dead silent.
