automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

fifty-five.

AS SKYE LOWERED THE VISOR OF HER HELMET, HER EYES SQUINTED IN CONCENTRATION. it was a beautiful day. a perfect day, even. especially to be flying. and yet she still couldn't let go of the unfamiliar knot in her stomach as she saluted one of the flight officers on the carrier and began to taxi down the flight deck behind her father.

at least, she thought, maverick was there with her.

knowing that her dad was flying too made her feel infinitely better, and skye also felt secure with katia seated behind her. then, of course, there was rooster, who was moving into his position behind her.

after an okay and a confirmation from air traffic control, maverick was off the carrier. skye flew off almost immediately after him, feeling the familiar dip in her jet as it released from the deck. it was as exhilarating as it always was, and skye found herself smiling the nerves away as she confirmed, "dagger three, up and away."

the four planes moved along the guided course towards where the enemy lines were, listening in as they were instructed to move below radar. skye looked over to rooster, who was flying his jet next to hers. their eyes met for a moment in a silent interaction that skye took as an understanding. they forgave each other for everything that had gone wrong.

maverick was soon telling the group to move into their attack formation, forcing skye to refocus. she moved her super hornet away from rooster's, moving to her position behind her father's jet. rooster was then behind her and katia, with phoenix and bob bringing up the rear.

"proceeding to target." maverick said. "two minutes and thirty seconds in three, two, one...mark."

"two mark." rooster replied immediately.

skye pressed a button in front of her to begin her own timer. "three mark."

"four mark." phoenix finished.

skye watched for a moment as the numbers began to tick down, and then, with one more big breath, she was tilting her plane and speeding behind her father into the canyon that she'd flown through so frequently in simulations.

the planes all slowed down, moving as close to the ground as possible as they scoped the area. "first s.a.m. sight overhead." maverick warned, and skye looked up. sure enough, there were missiles nestled above them on the side of the snowy hills. those would be a pain in her ass later, she assumed.

despite being fully briefed on the terrain, and being fully aware of what a surface to air missile looked like, seeing them all lined up in person was an entirely different story. skye took a sharp breath as she tore her gaze away from them.

"more s.a.m.s." rooster commented a moment later. "three o'clock, high."

skye looked up again, taking them in for another brief second. "you know, i could've been a bartender, or a librarian, or something." she said mainly to katia, who laughed.

"thirty seconds 'til tomahawk impact on enemy air strip." a voice sounded in skye's ears. a moment later, there was a new voice.

"dagger commanche, we're picking up two bandits, single for over two contacts."

skye's brows furrowed. "where the hell did they come from?" she mumbled. "what's their heading?" she then asked the woman, who she assumed was on air traffic control.

"bullseye, zero nine fifty. southwest."

"they're headed away from us." rooster determined. "they don't know we're here."

"the second those tomahawks hit the airbase, those bandits are gonna move to defend the target." maverick concluded. "we have to get there before they do. increase speed."