Clarke sighed happily as her hands wrapped around the joystick of her F18 plane. She was grateful to be back at work after the hellish weekend she just endured. Grateful for a distraction from her own sadness, a chance to focus on something else, but mostly she liked that she had control. In the air, she was in control of everything. It was what made being a solo pilot interesting to her in the first place. She didn't like the idea of having to listen to anyone besides herself while she was flying. "How are we on time?" she asked over the headset. She could see the straightaway coming up on the navigation course and needed an update.
"We're doing really good! Only 7 seconds behind," Fanboy answered from his and Payback's plane behind Clarke's. Clarke smiled to herself, proud that she was making good time.
"Okay, let's increase 20 knots in the straight, to catch us up, and then go back for the curves."
"Copy that, increasing." Payback answered as both of their planes zoomed through the straightaway.
"Good timing! We're 4 seconds behind now!" Fanboy cheered into the headset.
"Yes!" Clarke and Payback both cheered. "Be ready for the pop up," Clarke instructed. The rest of their course went fine, only ending ten seconds late. They landed on the tarmac and passed Rooster, Phoenix, and Bob.
"Nice timing up there, Broadway!" Bob said as he held up a hand, which Clarke high-fived as she walked passed.
"Thanks, Bob. I think that gives me the top spot for team leader in our race now," she said cockily and gave Rooster a taunting look.
"Oh, we'll see about that. I'd take notes if I were you, this one's gonna be perfect." Rooster replied, matching her gloating tone. She slowly turned and held up her middle finger as she walked away, causing both Fanboy and Payback to laugh as they followed her. There were a couple more runs, then lunch. After lunch they were all gathered in the radio room when Maverick and Warlock entered.
"Good work this morning guys, really. We're making good time." He shifted his weight between feet and cleared his throat. Warlock then stepped forward.
"We just received word that the plant is going to be operational sooner." The weight of his announcement hung in the air as all the pilots pondered his words.
"How soon?" Phoenix asked.
"One week. We have the 6 days to continue our work before we shove off. Let's make them count. Maverick," he finished and then looked back to Mav.
"Alright, I don't want any of you to think too much about the days. We've gotta keep doing what we have been. First up, Hangman with Harvard/Yale." The day continued with different people flying in different combinations with Coyote and Phoenix/Bob being the last team. They were in the air, only a couple seconds from dropping in for the strikes when Maverick came over the comms. "Blue team, you've been spotted."
"What the hell is Maverick doing here?" Coyote groaned.
"I'm a bogey on patrol, how do you want to proceed?" Maverick answered.
"Your call," Coyote said to Phoenix.
"Continue, we're almost there." Phoenix answered. They inverted over the first peak and Coyote readied his laser. He dropped and missed. "Damn! Bob how's the second one coming?"
"Dead eye! Dead eye!" Bob screamed from the back seat. "This laser's going wild, I can't get a lock!"
"It's okay, I got it!" Coyote answered and dropped blind. It missed. "Damn it!" he yelled in frustration just before pulling up for the high G climb out. Phoenix followed and soon they both broke the radar line and Maverick was on their tails. It wasn't long before he caught up to Phoenix and Bob.
"Phoenix, Bob, you're out. Good try guys." Maverick complimented. Phoenix flew out and circled back to see how Coyote was doing. "Coyote, level out." Maverick instructed. Nothing. "Coyote, level wings." Maverick said harsher. Still no response and his plane began to fly downward. "Oh my God, he's in G lock."
In the radio room all the pilots stood closely to the radio to listen, all anxious. G lock was one of the scariest thing for any pilot and they all knew how awful it was. Maverick raced after Coyote, who was losing altitude fast.
"He's gonna burn in!" Phoenix yelled, unable to do anything but watch the disaster happen. Maverick was able to get tone on his plane and just before he hit the ground, pulled up breathing heavily. "You alright?!" Maverick asked instantly.
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm good." Coyote answered, shock evident in his voice.
"That was close." Phoenix said as she flew next to Maverick's plane.
"Too close," he said as he nodded his head. A black dot came zooming toward his canopy and he instantly recognized the small figure. "Bird strike! Bird strike!" he yelled as the bird bounced off his canopy and was sucked into Phoenix's engine, causing to catch fire and fail. She and Bob frantically did everything they could to stop the engine fires and restart them, but when the left engine was officially out, she climbed as high as she could before the left engine failed. Once it failed, the plane began a freefall down.
"I can't get control!" Phoenix screamed as the joystick bounced around, having no control of the plane.
"You can't shake it. Eject, Phoenix!" Maverick yelled.
"Come on, Phoenix! Eject!" Bob yelled in agreement.
"Eject! Eject! Eject!"
YOU ARE READING
ALPHA STRIKE |rooster x oc|
Fanfictionclarke mitchell, daughter of the infamous Maverick, had always dreamed of being in the Navy like her father. lucky for her, her best friend had the same dream. but all of it could change when they get assigned to an almost impossible mission I do NO...
