Permission To Fly: A Hangman Fanfiction

chapter 16: conflict

After two days of the pilots flying part one of the mission simulation, no one is even close to making it on time. I walk into the hallway from the rec room where everyone was hanging out between flights. I see Coyote and Hangman standing together, looking at something. I turn away and look at the portrait of my dad, he looks perfect. Strong and commanding, but proud of his work. It makes me even more proud to be his daughter. "Tell me what to do, Dad. How can we do to get them to get this flight down," I sigh, asking in a whisper to his portrait. Looking to the left I see my favorite photo of Dad and Maverick, it was from their first mission after TOPGUN and that's when they became friends, the day their feud ended.

I watch Coyote and Hangman walk away, so I walk up to see what they were looking at. It's the TOPGUN class photo from the year Maverick, Goose, and Dad attended. Oh my god, I never told Hangman how I know Rooster. He just assumed we knew each other from the Navy. He knows I am very close to Maverick, so that gives him every reason to think that I've known Bradley my whole life. And he wouldn't be wrong.

I make my way to the briefing room since the flights are done for the day. Most of the pilots are already waiting and I take my place next to Maverick. All I can see is the planes turning from blue to red on the screen as we tracked their flights. Dead pilots, exactly the opposite of what we were trying to teach. Once everyone is in the room we play the flights back. First, Phoenix, Bob, and Coyote's flight. "Why are they dead?" my voice booms across the room.

"The SAMs took us out, we broke the 300-foot ceiling," Phoenix replies, voice unwavering, giving the obvious answer, but not giving me the answer I wanted.

"No," I say, focusing my stern gaze on Coyote, "why are they dead?"

"I slowed down and didn't give them a warning, it's my fault," Coyote replies, admitting to his mistake.

"Was there a reason you didn't communicate with your team? No, don't answer me. What excuse will their families accept at the funeral?" I ask him and he looks down, ashamed.

"None, ma'am," Coyote replies quietly and I turn back to Phoenix. I can't show any favor, and my job isn't to be their friend, but their mentor.

"Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were briefed on the terrain," I say and she starts to speak, but I interrupt her. "Don't tell me, tell his family," I say, looking to Bob and stepping back to start the next flight: Hangman, Payback, and Fanboy's.

"What happened?" Maverick asks, looking at them, crossing his arms.

"I flew as fast as I could, kinda like my life depended on it," he says cockily and I mentally hit my head off of a wall.

"And you put your team in danger and your wingman is dead," Rooster says exactly what I was thinking. I love Jake, but he flies with too little regard for his wingman.

"They couldn't keep up," Hangman replies, smirking, and I keep a straight face, controlling my anger. I have no idea what's gotten into him, but I don't like this attitude.

Maverick turns to Rooster, not even playing his flight because he doesn't have to. "Why are you dead? You're team leader up there, so why are you and why is your team dead?"

"Sir, he's the only one who made it to the target," Phoenix defends and I sigh.

"A minute late, he gave enemy aircraft time to shoot him down. He's dead" I say and Rooster just scoffs.

"You don't know that," he says and honestly, I don't know why both he and Jake are being so defiant.

"You're not flying fast enough, you don't have a second to waste," Hangman adds, driving up the tension in the room.