Ravager

Avedon Hammond arrives to find her flight reassigned to the reckless Cooper Wayne, her ex-lover. The mission is shrouded in secrecy; there is no clear paperwork or flight plan. The tension between pilot and pilot sets the tone for an uneasy journey.

The passenger manifest reveals a motley crew: Lazarus, a hustler; Dr. Shephard, a micro-surgeon with a drug dependence; Cade, an obsessed man seeking his deserting wife; and the enigmatic Sarra, with a shadowed past. The voyage is treated as a mystery run rather than a routine cargo flight. Avedon and Cooper brace themselves for a trip that could go wrong at any moment.

Shortly after liftoff, two booster rockets become obstructed, forcing the ship off its intended course. The crew struggles to stabilize the battered craft as alarms blare. The crisis hints at the danger waiting on the ground.

The Armstrong crash-lands in a desolate, uncharted South Asian desert, its surface wracked by seismic tremors. Debris sprays as the hull buckles, and the survivors scramble to minimize casualties. Avedon and Cooper rally the passengers to assess injuries and salvage what supplies remain.

With limited power, the team decides to recover tridymite to fabricate new flight data circuit boards. They scour the crash zone for tools and parts, facing the harsh heat and aftershocks. The scavenging operation tests leadership under extreme conditions.

While scavenging, they stumble into an underground military depository housing advanced biological weapons. The discovery hints at a grim purpose behind the mission and raises questions about how it will affect them. Tension rises as the implications sink in.

One passenger becomes infected by the weapons and mutates into a zombie with murderous intent. The crew must decide how to isolate the threat while protecting the rest of the group. Tension spikes as the infected hunter moves through the corridors.

Avedon and Cooper step up to shepherd the remaining passengers, coordinating shelter, medical care, and a plan to survive the crisis. They corralling the uninfected to safer areas and keeping the threat contained as best as possible. Their strained partnership colors every decision under pressure.

Chief engineer Mick 'Clean' McClean is pressed into service to repair critical ship systems. He patches hydraulics and electronics, improvises where parts are missing, and keeps the crew hopeful. His expertise becomes pivotal to keeping the damaged craft in one piece.

They use the recovered tridymite to reconstruct the flight data circuit boards, a crucial step toward reestablishing navigational capability. The engineering team works through power outages and aftershocks to test new components. The crew advances from crisis management toward a viable escape plan.

With systems stabilized, the Armstrong regains enough functionality to contemplate departure. Avedon, Cooper, and the others prepare to lift off once the desert is behind them and the threat of the outbreak is contained. The crew commits to getting the ship airborne and to safety as quickly as possible.

The plan is set to head toward civilization and safety as soon as possible, even if it means taking an uncharted route. The passengers band together, the weapons cache is secured, and the aircraft is readied for a perilous escape. The crisis leaves them changed, but the mission to survive continues.