𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

❝ 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 ❞







































✈ ✈ ✈



THE ENGINES ROAR.

Maverick is first to go up.

Archer follows right behind him, waving a salute, before grabbing the handle by the right, jet gaining speed before a jerk sends her into the sky, above the clear blue ocean water.

From behind, multiple jerks sound consecutively, and the others join their leaders in the air.

Once they're high up in the clouds, Maverick calls out on the radio, "Comanche. Dagger One, standby check in."

Control replies immediately, "Comanche, one-one, set. Picture clean, recommend Dagger continue."

Archer maintains a steady and focused gaze on the sky above, flying right beside Maverick. He looks at her to his side, and she gives a nod, feeling his gaze on her, before his voice is heard on the radio, "Copy. Daggers descending below radar." Slowly, Archer pushes the yoke away from her, losing altitude and the coldness of the clouds.

They fall low, remaining in position, as they fly not more than twelve feet from the blue waters. From ahead, there was land seen, and Faith could only assume it was the target region, calling out on radio as she shifts in her seat, readying herself, "Here we go, enemy territory up ahead. Feet dry in 60 seconds."

"Comanche, Dagger One. Picture." Everyone waits for a reply from Control.

"Comanche. Picture clean. Decision is yours." And we're off.

"Copy." Maverick turns his head to look at Archer, then to Rooster, "Dagger attack."

From above them all, the Tomahawks soar loudly, heading for the enemy runway. Everyone looks upwards, watching them pass by from above their jets, eyes still on them as they watch the missiles go past them and towards the terrain further up ahead.

"Daggers, assume attack formation." Archer falls right behind Maverick, increasing her speed to level out behind him, flying a few feet higher than him. She takes a deep breath once they settle in their position, as they close in on the snow-covered land.

"Daggers set. Proceeding to target." Archer announces, and Maverick continues, "Two minutes and thirty seconds in three, two, one, mark."

Archer presses the timer, "Two mark."

"Three mark." Rooster.

"Four mark." Phoenix and Bob.

"Five mark." Payback and Fanboy.

Another few seconds of flying straight ahead, and then they're right through the green mountains, Maverick declares, "Going in."

Then, it's a game of sharp twists and turns to the sides, one after the other, dodging the terrain and each other as they fly through the terrain. No words, except grunts and heavy breaths are heard on the radio as they navigate their way.

They make a sharp turn to follow the curve of the river below them, entering the snow-clad regions all the while increasing their speeds and throwing off some air to push themselves ahead.

She notices the first SAM site overhead, throwing a warning onto the radio, "First SAM site on our two." They glide through the air and the mountainous terrain, wind falling off their jets. They were clear on radar, no bogeys in the air yet. They hadn't been spotted.

"Looks like we're clear on radar, Caps." Archer jerks her head to the side at Phoenix's words, yeah, they're clear on radar, but they shouldn't start celebrating just yet, "Let's not take it for granted." They continue on their paths, heavy twists and jerks to their sides, deeply breathing so as to not let the force affect them as much.

Fanboy points out, "More SAM's, three o'clock, high!" Archer looks to her direct side, noticing the SAM's too, before returning her gaze back to the air they glid through, she shakes off the waves of fear creeping on her.

"We got two minutes to target." Bob announces, and Payback replies, talking to Rooster, "Copy, we're two seconds behind, Rooster. We gotta move." But there's no reply from the man, just heavy grunts and breaths.

Just then, Control warns, settling clear anxiousness in all their bones, "Dagger, Comanche. We're picking up two bandits. Single group, two contacts."

Phoenix asks, grunt escaping before, "Comanche, what's their heading?" Control gives a quick reply, "Bullseye zero-nine, zero-five-zero, tacked southwest."

Archer curses under her breath.

Rooster cuts in, breaking the tension, "They're headed away from us. They don't know we're here." Maverick points out in a tense tone, "The second those Tomahawks hit the air base, those bandits are gonna move to defend the target. We have to get there before they do, increase speed."

Archer follows right behind Maverick, pushing her yoke forward, "Right behind you, Mav!"

Phoenix trails in hot behind Archer, "We got you, guys, don't wait for me!"

She hears Rooster's heavy breaths on the radio, shaking her head. This was not the time to fall back, they needed to push. So she did. "Come on, Roost, we need you up ahead!" She calls out for him, enticing him to be hot on their trail, yet there's no reply.

Maverick tries, "Rooster, where are you?" He's answered with heavy breaths once again. Payback makes a chance to encourage his friend, "Come on, Rooster. Bandits inbound. We gotta make up time, let's turn and burn!"

The trio by the front make a hard twist to their right, looking ahead to find a bridge of some sort. Maverick warns his wingman behind him, "Heads up, Arch!" She looks ahead, watching as the Captain makes a sharp turn, plane falling to a horizontal ninety degree angle nose first from under the bridge. Archer follows, yoke yanked to herself as she takes a deep breath passing through from under.

"One minute to target!" Archer warns, just as Fanboy calls out for his front-seater and Rooster, "Guys, we're falling behind. We really gotta move!" Payback continues, trying his best to encourage Rooster with their lives, "If we don't increase our speed right now, those bandits are gonna be waiting for us when we reach the target." A few heavy breaths sound, surrounded by silence.

He's confused. Conflicted. Anxious. Nervousness. Fearful. His breathing is too heavy, and Faith could feel him crack on the inside with everyone's words. Her heart falls when he murmurs to himself, "Talk to me, Dad."

Maverick encourages from ahead of her, a fatherly tone in his voice, "Come on, kid, you can do it. Don't think, just do." Silence.

A deep, heavy breath out the mouth. Her heart beats faster in her chest. A grunt, then a push of the throttle, and Rooster's speeding, charging forward, no doubt pushed back from the heavy speed and force on his chest.

"Jesus, Rooster, not that fast!" Payback exclaims, caught completely off guard. Archer smiles, nodding. He's off his perch, descending fast. Now it's up to him, if he wants to fall to the ground on his face, or fly to save himself. "That's it, Rooster!"

Rooster turns around the corner of the mountain with a burst of confidence, "Alright, let's go!"

Payback is yelling too, "Damn, Rooster, take it easy!"

Swift turns are made through the canyon, navigating at full speed, Archer hears those from the back conversing about making it from under the bridge. Assuming they're done with missing the bridge, she calls out for them, "Dagger Three, status?"

Maverick warns, "Thirty seconds to target. Bob, Arch, check your lasers." Archer checks the view of her laser vision, making sure she's ready to engage. Just then, Rooster replies to her question, "Almost there, Arch! Almost there!"

"Air-to-ground check complete. Laser code verified, one-six-eight-eight. Laser is a go!" She presses in the code, successfully getting eyes through Bob.

"Arch, Phoenix, stand by for pop up strike." Both women reply with in position and a nod of their heads.

"Popping in three, two, one." Archer counts down, before pulling the yoke to herself, throttle pushed ahead with a heavy jerk. Her back falls to the seat, pinned to it as the jet ascends incredibly fast up the mountain, clouding her vision with black spots. She tries her best to throw out breaths and grunts, barely avoiding G-LOC as she climbs right after Maverick, Phoenix right behind her.

With a loud grunt, Archer falls behind Maverick in an invert, throttle to herself, and yoke yanked ahead, wind pushed off the jet. Another grunt, and they level out, approaching the target right in their site.

"Get us eyes on the target, Bob." Maverick urges, further ahead, mere seconds away from intercepting the target. "Stand by, guys, stand by, stand by!" Bob tries his best to get a lock, shifting the button to the side.

"Come on, Bob, come on," Archer rushes, and then there's a single loud beep on the radio. Her eyes widen as Bob calls out, "I've got it!"

Maverick confirms, "Target acquired."

Archer drawls out, "Bombs away!" Maverick presses the red button, before ascending up the mountain as his missiles lower towards the target. She follows, shifting the eyes before she gets a lock and a single beep before pressing the red button herself, feeling the jet get lighter, before making her way up the mountain again.

She pulls the yoke to herself to the very final bit, making sure there was no way to decrease her speed in any way, grunting as the jet begins climbing. Archer brings her other hand to hold the yoke in place, groaning at having to go against what felt like the weight of a million elephants sitting on her chests. She tries her best to shake off the black clouds in her vision, jerking her head to the side multiple times.

The jet rumbles, and Archer groans, holding the yoke to herself with the tightest grip she'd ever held the control, hands steady under her navy green gloves. Wind slides off the side of her jet, and she grunts out a few more times, fighting off the pressure.

There's a thunder from below them, and Archer turns her head against the force to look back, seeing that they had in fact hit the target perfectly, as she and Bob call out in excitement on the radio, "Direct hit! There's impact, I repeat, Miracle number one!"

"Dagger Three, status?" Maverick calls out in a strained voice against the heavy force, still climbing the mountain as Rooster replies, "Almost there, Mav! Almost there!"

The trio at the front is completely vertical against the mountain, and Archer swears she feels her lungs implode in her chest, heart beating probably over the regular limit. There's a searing headache at one side of her head, and she does her best to shake and grunt it off.

Completely pinned to her seat, Archer can only watch the G-meter increase the number by the second.

8.9 G

9.0 G

9.1 G

9.2 G

9.3 G

9.4 G

Payback and Rooster's voice fade out, her vision is clouded by those black spots she hated, her heart beats too fast in her ears, her stomach was levitating on the inside. Just then, they reach the peak of the mountain.

Her hearing is somewhat clear, vision back to normal, heart beat slowing down, as she takes in Maverick's words, "We're not out of this yet!"

Oh, god.

Coffin Corner.

Her grip on the throttle and yoke tightens than ever before, shifting in her seat the tiniest bit, before she's flying right behind Maverick into Coffin Corner. There's beeping from her radar, and her head jerks to the side as she maintains an eye on the SAM site, calling out, "Here it comes, get ready to turn and burn!" The SAM's are out of their positions and heading their way with speed just as fast as theirs'.

Maverick breaks to the left, and Phoenix breaks to the right, Archer inverts, falling down below as she tries her best to dodge off the SAM behind her. She looks behind, hearing the beeping getting louder, yelling on the radio, "Radar warning! Smoke in the air, smoke in the air! 'Nix, break right!"

Phoenix follows Archer's command, announcing her actions, "Emergency jettison, Dagger Four, defending!" Bob warns to his front-seater, "Here comes another one!"

Archer flies low, messing with the SAM's terrain navigation, before she announces, "Dagger Two, defending, dropping flares!" She punches the big red button to her left with a closed fist, hearing the shooting sound as the flares fall out of her jet, hitting the missile, and then another.

"Rooster, status!" Maverick calls out, looking over at the peak of the mountain for a few seconds, before two jets escape from behind it, and SAM's follow right after from their snug positions, "Oh my god." Rooster mutters, watching the SAM's fall after them.

"Smoke in the air, smoke in the air!" Rooster warns, beeping from his side loud. "Break right, Payback, break right!" Fanboy alerts his front-seater. It's a game of cat and mouse, as yells for each other and beeping is heard on the radio.

"SAM on your six, Rooster!"

"Watch your left, 'Nix, watch your left!"

"Deploying countermeasures!"

"Fae, break right, break right!"

"Breaking right!"

"Negative contact!"

"Dagger One, defending!"

"Talk to me, Arch!"

"Rooster, three o'clock!"

"Archer, SAM on your nose!"

"Break right, Phoenix, break right!"

"Mav, nine o'clock, watch out!"

"Arch, SAM on your nine!"

"Dagger Two, defending!"

"Rooster, two SAM's on your six! Rooster, evade, evade!"

"Dagger Three, defending!"

"Rooster, tally, seven o'clock!"

"Talk to me, Bob!"

"On our six!"

"Dagger Three, defending!"

"Archer, break right, break right!"

"I see it, I see it!"

Complete mayhem, the definition of warfare is up in the air with them. Narrow misses, narrow hits, combine hands in the battle against the SAM's, and the Daggers continue defending, defending, and defending. Rumbles, and jerks shake their jets as they avoid the enemy missiles.

"Rooster, two on your six! Watch your six!" Archer calls out for him, watching him trail in from the north side, flying towards her east. "Dagger Three, defending!"

But there's no flares.

Archer's heart drops. The cold weather hits her in the face, gathering in from up her body. No, no, not again. Her hands are shaky on the controls, listening to Rooster yell, "Shit, I'm outta flares!"

"Rooster, evade, evade!" Maverick urges.

In panic, she tells him, hands tightening on the throttle and yoke once more, "Rooster, when I tell you to, break right, okay? Break right when I say so!"

"I can't shake 'em, they're on me, they're on me!" Rooster's warning again and again, and it pushed her off the edge. "Rooster, break right! Break right, Rooster!"

Rooster is yelling out for her, catching onto what she wanted him to do, having to break to the left when she comes swerving in from the side, "No! No, Fae, don't-"

In a quick whisper, she tightens her hold on the controls, "I'm sorry, Rooster."

Archer replaces Rooster in front of the SAM, closing her eyes for impact.

Then, the SAM hits.

Her jet goes spiraling downwards, she tries to look above where the other's were, watching as a SAM hits Maverick, who tried to jump in and save her, him too beginning to descend down into a spiral.

Archer's pull on the ejection handle was too strong, and the cold air hit her face as the canopy disappeared from above her, the intense gust of wind pulling her ice frozen body to the soft snow-barren grounds of the enemy.