Fly With Me // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Ten

"The mission has been moved up a week."

That was the only thing Sophie could focus on at the moment. She was listening to Maverick brief them on the second part of the mission and she was taking notes on everything she needed to know, but she wasn't fully there. None of them had successfully completed the first part of the mission and now they were expected to master phase two in the next five days and then be on the carrier to complete it.

She was nervous; it was unlike any other kind of nerves she felt in the past for missions. She had so much more on the line. The possibility of someone not coming back home from this mission was high and it was something she couldn't stop thinking about. She let her pen fall in between her lips as she bit down on it anxiously.

Sophie looked around the room at her fellow aviators. Some she'd known for years, others she'd just met, but she had come to care for all of them deeply. They were all bonded through this detachment and she didn't want to see any of them get hurt. Her eyes drifted over to Hangman who was in front of her. He seemed calm, but he wasn't cocky like normal. Instead, he was intently listening to the admirals and Mav to make sure he got every important piece of information written in his notebook. He was the only family she had and she wasn't sure what she would do if she lost him.

She moved her eyes to the man across the room, sitting by himself. His face was flushed in anxiety, but he was closely listening to what they were being briefed on. Rooster was carefully calculating everything that he needed to do in order to be successful on this mission. He'd have to fly in ways beyond what the book taught him. It wasn't his strong suit, but he had to do it in order to survive. The thought of losing him made her queasy in her stomach. She sucked in a breath of air and turned back towards the front.

They had five days to get this shit right. If they didn't, Sophie feared the worst would happen to the people she loved most.

***

Razor and Rebound were on their first simulation run of the day for phase two of the mission. A couple of groups had gone before them and no one had even come close to being successful yet. She was flying with Hangman as their mission leader and Phoenix, Bob, and Rooster as daggers three and four. They were coming up on the first mountain ridge.

"Popping now. You with me, Razor," Hangman calls out from ahead of them.

"Right behind you. Rebound, get your laser ready."

"On it."

Razor inverts their jet before taking the steep dive down toward their target. Rebound tries to line up the laser as best as he can, but when Hangman takes the shot, it misses."

"Negative contact," Rebound says as he feels the pressure starting to build against his chest. Razor had begun their steep g-climb out of the mountain ridge.

"Damn it," Hangman says, frustrated at their failed attempt.

Razor continues to focus on flying them safely out of the area. She felt the weight of the world crushing her lungs as she kept flying up. This was one of the most physically challenging things she'd ever had to endure. She was focusing hard on not passing out, keeping in mind that she had to do everything she could to stay awake. She had more than just her own life to think about.

They finally are able to level out and hear that Phoenix, Rooster, and Bob had missed the target as well. If the mission was today, it would've been a fail and they'd all be getting shot at by enemy SAMs at this point.

Razor sighs and Rebound can feel her anxiety bouncing through the cockpit. "We'll get it right," he tries to reassure his pilot. She wasn't sure though. No one was getting this right.