killshot (bradley bradshaw)

XXVIII

"I need eyes on the target, Bob," Maverick commanded. 

"Stand by, Mav!" Bob exclaimed. Seconds ticked by. "Captured!"

"Target acquired. Bombs away!" Maverick said. 

Nothing but heavy breathing came over the radio and Jenna knew the pilots were beginning the insane climb out. She loosed a breath, keeping her eyes shut. The moments following the release of the missiles felt like hours.

"I see impact!" Bob cried. Jenna's eyes flew open as her stomach dropped. 

"Direct hit! Direct hit!" Bob called out. Relief washed over Jenna as she turned to look at Hangman. He flashed her a small, nervous smile and pointed back at the radio just as Mav's voice rang out again.

"Dagger two, status." Mav inquired, sounding breathless.

"We're close, Mav" Rooster responded. "Fanboy, laser?"

Another second ticked by in silence.

"Shit!" Fanboy shouted. "Rooster, the laser's fucked! Deadeye, deadeye, deadeye!"

Jenna loosed a sling of curse words under her breath. She was glad her radio wasn't connected to the main com line. 

"Fanboy, get the laser online, now!" Rooster demanded. "We are running low on time."

"I'm trying!" Fanboy cried. Jenna could hear the desperation lacing his words. 

"Let's go, Fanboy," Payback urged his backseater.

"I go-" 

"No time, I'm dropping blind!" Rooster interrupted. Jenna's stomach sank at his words. The odds of making that shot, especially without a guide laser, were slim to none. 

The next few seconds, Rooster and Fanboy went back and forth on the radio, with Fanboy desperately trying to convince Rooster to wait.

"No time!" Rooster repeated. "Bombs away! Bombs away!"

"Holy shit," Jenna whispered as silence came over the radio once more. Another second. Then two. Three. 

"Bullseye, bullseye, bullseye!" A woman's voice came over the comms. Jenna's heart lurched into her throat, disbelief written across her features as she turned to celebrate with Hangman. She watched the pilot with a smile on her face as he grinned and pumped his fist, doing a little dance in his cockpit. Jenna giggled to herself, wishing that Phoenix could be there to see his reaction. 

Jenna's good mood was cut short when Maverick's voice came back over the radio.

"We're not out of this yet," he grunted, reminding everyone that the pilots still had to get out of Coffin's Corner. A pause.

"Here they come!" Maverick shouted. Jenna pressed herself against the seat in her cockpit, her nerves returning to be her copilot once more. A prayer formed on her lips, but it was interrupted by her father.

"Smoke in the air, smoke in the air!" Maverick called to Phoenix. "Break right!"

"Dagger Three defending." Phoenix replied, her voice shaking slightly.

"Another one's coming!" Bob alerted his pilot.

"Dagger One defending," Maverick reported. "Rooster, what's your status?"

Jenna strained her ears for any sound of Rooster on the radio, but the line remained quiet.

"Oh my God," Rooster said. It was nothing more than a whisper, and Jenna knew he was out of Coffin's Corner. 

Time stood still as Jenna listened to the chaos ensuing over the radio. Her friends were calling out to each other to break right and then break left and then break right again. Panic bubbled up in her chest every time someone called out "Smoke in the air". It was as if the enemy had an endless supply of SAMs and her pilots were barely out-maneuvering them. 

It got harder and harder to differentiate between the voices on the comms, each pilot yelling out commands and responses. Jenna dared to take her attention off the radio for one moment as she glanced over to Hangman, noting the grim look on his face as he stared a hole though his radio equipment. 

"Shit, I'm out of flares!" Rooster's voice rang out through the noise and Jenna snapped her attention back to the mayhem happening in the skies hundreds of miles away. Her chest heaved as she realized that Rooster was completely defenseless against the missiles coming for him. 

"Rooster!" Maverick yelled. "Evade, evade, evade!"

"I can't get them off of me!" Rooster responded, and everything went quiet again.  Sitting completely still in her cockpit, she realized she was about to lose Rooster and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Mav!" Rooster cried. Silence. Milliseconds later, he wailed, "Mav, no!"

Jenna felt everything and nothing all at once. She felt completely numb as she stared at her radio. She knew, even before Phoenix yelled out to confirm it, that Dagger One was hit. 

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AN: Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading! A little bit of a shorter update but now that it's summer for me they will be coming more often! I am aiming to put one update out per week? Let me know how that sounds to you guys!