/_\==Chapter One: Fate Beckons==/_\

In a hallway in a hanger near the United States capital, a young pilot is walking down the hallway, obviously heading somewhere. He was fairly young, had a moderate build, and had short blonde hair. Behind him, a scientist rushed up to him, and grabbed his shoulder, causing the pilot to turn around. “Link, this flight could be suicide, and you know it!” said the scientist. “Hardly any of the equipment, including the engine has ever been tested!” Link simply looked at the scientist and said, “Heh, I don’t think I’ll get hurt. Besides, I never turn down a test flight!” Then Link turned and walked away, heading for the hanger. The scientist stood where he was and wondered how one soul could harbor so much courage... either that, or stupidity.

The plane in question is roughly shaped like a capital ‘a’ and was jet black. The wings went back and out, and had large flaps for easy maneuverability. Link stepped up to the plane, climbed a short ladder, and hopped into the cockpit and strapped himself in. Link then flipped a switch, and the ladder lifted up off the ground, and slid into the plane. In a few moments, you could barely tell that the ladder was there. He then put on a headset and checked the radio with mission control. “Testing, testing,” said Link. “This is mission control. You are to simply take off, test out the engines, then land. That is ALL you have to do today. Remember last time?” was the reply. Link grimaced when that was mentioned, for Link had destroyed an experimental supersonic jet by performing aerial stunts. The only thing that saved his career was that he was the most daring test pilot the corporation had. Link simply acknowledged and requested permission to take off. When he was accepted, he taxied out to the runway at the end of the hanger, and then took off, using standard engines instead of the experimental ones.

All was going well. The plane handled quite well for its size, and had a decent speed. Link then pushed a button that automatically turn off the standard engines, and turned on the experimental ones. These engines were designed to harvest hydrogen from the air, then use that as fuel, negating the need to ever land in need of fuel.

As soon as the engines switched, there was a visible shockwave, but no sound, nor feeling from it. Perplexed, Link decided to cut the flight short and start the approach for landing. When he moved the controls, the plane did not respond. Confused, Link moved the controls erratically, looking for any reaction from the ship. There was none.

There was a small LCD screen on the dashboard of the plane, and the onboard computer was running a diagnostic check it read: “Sensors Normal… Defenses Normal… Engine Normal” and then it read “Controls…ERROR” and it started beeping for a few seconds.

Link then called over the radio for help, but no one responded. When he looked at the radio, the little red light that showed that the radio was on was off. Link pushed the button to switch the radio on. The light did not turn on.

After a few moments, Link had figured out that he had no radio, no controls and the only thing that seemed to be working right was the radio scanner. Link plugged his headset into that, in case someone was talking about him. The first thing that he heard was “…area, repeat, you are in restricted airspace, over.” Link’s face paled and then he realized that he was in the no-fly zone over Washington DC. Link took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. He then noticed that two F-16 fighter planes were now behind, and slightly to the left and right of him, and the plane had them on the LCD screen. “Command, he is not responding, over.” Was heard over the radio scanner, and Link supposed that the voice belonged to one of the fighter pilots. A different voice then said “Try hailing the pane again, over.” Then the same fighter pilot said “Unidentified plane, you are in restricted airspace, do you copy, over?” After a moment, the pilot said “Command, he’s not responding, over.” While this was going on, Link was struggling with the radio, even resorting to smacking it, to be able to respond to the jets.

Suddenly, a loud constant beeping noise was going off, and the LCD screen said “WARNING! LOCKED ON. ACTIVATING AUTO-EVADE” Link read this and wondered what the plane could do that he couldn’t. Then suddenly, the plane dramatically accelerated, pressing Link into his seat. Link could hear countermeasures being launched, but the jets behind him did not fire. Then he realized that SAMs (surface to air missile) were being fired at him. Despite the plane’s attempts to evade, the plane could only move in a straight line.

Suddenly, the plane got hit on the left wing, sending the jet diving towards the ground spiraling. Link knew there were no ejector seats in the plane, so he prayed that he would somehow live. Moments before hitting the ground, time seemed to slow down to a crawl.  Time was running so slow, that he could see the ground slowly moving towards him, like a snail crawling through a patch of dirt.  Then, a flash of white light appeared, and booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere said “HERO OF TIME, ACCEPT OUR QUEST!”