FIREBALL

Chapter 5

the next morning they carried on with dogfighting for an hour, with rooster and hangman up first, everyone else back up in the classroom listening to the old, crackly radio for the fight to begin.

"so rooster, mind if i ask you a personal question?"  thalia rolled her eyes, immediately seeing where this was going.

"would it matter if i did?"

"so, what's the story with you and maverick? it seems like he's got you a little rattled."  the smirk was apparent in his voice, and down below in the classroom everyone gravitated a little closer to the radio, waiting to hear the drama. 

"don't let him get to you, rooster," thalia muttered, but in her heart, she knew it was unlikely.

"that's none of your business," rooster defended and thalia swore silently. hangman had caught him in his noose and it wouldn't be long until he let the trapdoor go from under his feet. "now where the hell is he?"

"been here the whole time." 

on the ground, they couldn't see what manoeuvre maverick had done to surprise the duo in the air, but they knew it must have been interesting as hangman let out a low: "holy shit".

"you see me now?" 

that's when thalia knew maverick must have inverted his plane and was on top of one of the duo. it was a classic move of his as she had read in his file, and was risky enough to have warranted that reaction from the pilots in the air. 

the group listened with bated breaths as rooster and maverick had some kind of altercation, and they broke the hard deck, their planes both ringing out a loud warning for their altitude. one of them must have pulled up, as the warning stopped, and hangman called for rooster to take the shot they needed to strike maverick down. but it was too late. the tone rang loud and clear and maverick called through, still panting from whatever had happened.

"that's a kill. knock it off."

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"all right, that's enough," hondo said to the pilot at his feet. "rooster, that's enough, man."

sweat dripped from rooster's nose as he carried on his pushups, leaving hondo to sigh and walk away. he finally broke when he knew the older man had left, and groaned in pain as he allowed himself to stop.

his arms burned, and his legs shook in agony as he pushed himself into a sitting position. he glared at the concrete in front of him as two women walked over to him.

natasha was the first to speak, knowing him a lot longer. "breaking the hard deck, insubordination? are you trying to get kicked out?"

thalia stayed quiet knowingly as rooster formulated his reply.

"don't worry about it."

they knelt beside him, and nat carried on her lecture. "look, i'm going on this mission. but if you get kicked out, you leave us flying with hangman." she gestured to the younger woman next to her. "talk to me. what the hell was that?"

thalia knew the answer and smiled at him reassuringly. he glanced at her, figuring out that she knew, before answering. "he pulled my papers."

"what? who?" the dark haired woman's brow furrowed at his cryptic response. 

"maverick. he pulled my application to the naval academy. set me back four years." his eyes shone with unshed tears of fury.

natasha didn't seem to get the hint of his annoyance, and pressed him further. "why would he do that?" 

thalia shook her head at her gently, trying to stop her before rooster snapped and said something he would regret. 

"you don't have to tell us if you don't want to talk about it brad," she said, giving natasha a pointed look.

he didn't reply, instead standing and holding his hand out to the girls to help them stand. 

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the rest of the day went without a hiccup, apart from the fact rooster was grounded.

at the end, simpson called maverick and thalia to his office, glaring at the older man as the young pilot stood to the side and watched with narrowed eyes. there was no greeting, instead the vice admiral launched straight into his lecture.

"the hard deck is five thousand feet above ground level. the parameter is set, not just for the safety of our pilots, but for the safety of their aircraft. five thousand feet is not just a rule. it is a law, as immutable as gravity."

thalia tried to intercept, but pete beat her to it. "the hard deck will be much lower for the mission, sir."

"and it will not change without my approval!" he shouted, and thalia noticeably flinched at his tone, leading warlock and maverick to both cast her worried looks but she shook them off, refocusing her attention on simpson. "especially not in the middle of an exercise. and that cobra manoeuvre you pulled? that could have gotten all three of you killed. i never wanna see that shit again!" 

finally, warlock spoke, his calming voice a contrast to cyclone's anger. "what do you suppose you were teaching, captain?"

thalia unfolded her glasses and put them on, walking closer to the desk as she did so. "sir, they're good. but the whole class has something to learn here, sir, myself included. if we didn't, captain mitchell wouldn't be here."

"you are talking about the best fighter pilots on the planet, sergeant, yourself included. careful how you proceed."

"we have been praised of that our whole careers. told we're the best, showered with compliments. but they have been dropping bombs from high in the sky, with no dogfighting. the only person on the team with a confirmed air-kill is ja- lieutenant sersin, and he was against a plane from the bloomin' cold war! this mission calls for something none of us have ever seen before-"

thalia's accent was thick, and difficult to understand at the speed she was talking at. simpson finally cut in, trying to have the last word.

"ok, maverick has less than three weeks to teach them how to fight as a team and how to strike the target."

"and how to come home," maverick interrupted, his mind racing at the thought of losing anyone else.

the silence was loud.

thalia heard her voice tremble. "and how to come home, sir? yes? or is this a suicide squad you're setting up?"

more silence.

finally, cyclone started to talk again. "every mission has its risks. these pilots accept that." 

"well we don't, sir." maverick's statement was clear. he didn't like how the vice admiral was carelessly playing with the lives of the aviators. whether it be fritz, hangman, yale, or rooster, he couldn't bear the thought of losing more people.

"every morning, from this day forward, you will brief us on your instructional plans in writing. nothing will change without my express approval."

"including the hard deck, sir?"

"especially the hard deck."

thalia and pete made eye contact and smirked at his words. the girl placed a folder in front of simpson, smiling politely. "sir."

"what's this?" the man questioned, staring the duo down. 

"it's a request to lower the hard deck, sir. signed by the both of us. it requires your signature too for it to be put in place." 

"it's to help practice a low-level bombing run per the mission parameters," maverick added. 

thalia stifled a laugh as warlock hung his head in defeat.

"you are dismissed. both of you." 

they saluted, and walked out of the vice admiral's office, and thalia waited until the door was closed before she let her laugh bubble free.

"bloody hell!"

1234 wordsss yippeeeeee! i'm having great fun writing this; i hope you enjoy reading this just as much!- C xox