Safety Net 》Reuban Finch

Chapter 13

So far, the mission has gone well. The tomahawk had destroyed the enemy runway, Dagger Squad was close to their starting point, and they were even ahead of time, just by a little.

But that all went away when unexpected bandits appeared on the radar. “Sir, bandits are 2 minutes from target, Daggers are 1 minute from target.”

Payback and Fanboy are behind Rooster, his laser eye and wingman. But right now, they were moving too slow.

Fanboy, monitoring the lead group from the back of his two-seater, calls out through his radio. “Guys were falling behind. We really got to move!”

“If we don't increase speed now, those bandits are gonna be waiting for us when we reach the target!” Payback yells to Rooster.

By some miracle, Rooster gets the burst he needs to get back into the game. He increases his speed, turning on the jets, pun intended.

“Jesus Rooster, not that fast!” Payback calls, not expecting a new speed that quick, but speeding up regardless. After all, they had time to make up.

Maverick smiles to himself. “That's it, kid, that's it. Alright, let's go.”

“Man, Rooster, take it easy!” Fanboy calls to him as they fly incredibly close to the canyon walls. He had subconsciously ducked, even though they had a canopy around them.

Warlock take a deep breath when an officer tells them, “Sir Dagger 2 is reengaging.”

‘Alright, now hit your target and come home,” Cyclone orders. He doesn't want to lose anyone today.

“30 seconds to target. Bob, where's my laser?” Maverick yells to his attack team.

“Laser is a go,” Bob gives the all clear once it is calibrated.

Maverick makes it to the first position. “Phoenix, stand by for pop-up strike.”

“Dagger 3 in position,” she responds.

Maverick counts down. “Pop up in 3,2,1.” They maneuvers their way into launch position when Maverick calls to Bob. “You got me that target, Bob?”

“Stand by Mav,” Bob calls out. “Stand by, locked on!”

“Target acquired,” Mav says. “Bombs away.”

Bob makes the call. “We've got impact! Direct hit! Direct hit!”

“That's miracle number 1,” Warlock remarks. 

“Dagger 2,” Maverick calls out, needing to know where the rest of the team was.

“Almost there, Mav, almost there,” Rooster replies. “Fanboy, where's my laser?”

But the laser is malfunctioning. “Rooster, there's something wrong with this laser,” Fanboys calls out. “Shit, deadeye deadeye deadeye!”

“Guys were out of time, come on Fanboy,” Rooster calls out again.

Fanboy is doing everything he can to fix this. “Nearly there, nearly there!”

“Come on, Fanboy, get on lock,” Payback calls out to his WSO.

But Rooster makes an executive call. “We're out of time, I'm dropping blind. Bombs away, bombs away!” He fires his shots.

And by some miracle (or miracle number 2), they went in.

“Bullseye, bullseye, bullseye!” is shouted through the control room.

“Miracle number 2,” Warlock celebrates.