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.

But Cyclone is quick to bring everyone back to reality. “Now we're in Coffin Corner.”

“We're not out of this yet,” Maverick warns as he and Phoenix officially enter SAMS territory.

"Here it comes!" Mav yells. SAMS start firing. "Smoke in the air, smoke in the air! Break right Phoenix, break right!"

It was pure chaos.

"Emergency maneuvers! Here comes another one," Bob yells out.

"Dagger defending," Maverick deploys flares.

"Rooster, status?!" Maverick calls out. 

"Oh my god," as Rooster pulls out of Coffin  Corner. "Smoke in the air, smoke in the air!"

"Break right, Payback, break right!" Fanboy yells out.

"Oh my god, here they come," Fanboy warns.

"On your six, Rooster," Payback warns.

"Deploying counter missiles," Rooster says, hitting his buttons. "Negative contact!"

"Dagger 1 defending," Maverick calls. 

"Talk to me, Bob!" Phoenix calls. "Break right, Phoenix, break right!"  he calls back. "9 o’clock, 9 o’clock!"

"Rooster, 2 more on your six," Payback calls out.

"Dagger 2 defending!"

"Payback! Same on your nose," Maverick calls. 

"Dagger 4 defending!" 
"Oh my god!"
"Talk to me, Bob!"
"Holy shit!"
"Dagger 2 defending!"
"Tally, tally!"
"Break, right!"
"I can't see it!"

"Dagger 2 defending," Rooster calls out. "Shit, I'm out of flares!"

"Rooster evade, evade!" Maverick tells him. "I can't shake ‘em. They're on me! They're on me!"

"Mav!" Rooster yells out as Maverick takes a hit meant for him. "No, no!" he calls out when Maverick goes down.

"Dagger 1, it hit, I repeat Dagger 1 is hit!" Phoenix yells. "Maverick is down!"

"Dagger 1 status!" Rooster calls. "Status! Anyone see him? Does anyone see him? Dagger 1! Come in!"

"I didn't see a parachute!" Payback calls out.

"We have to circle back," Rooster insists.

"Comanche, bandits inbound single group hot, recommend dagger fly south."

"Get them back to the carrier now," Cyclone makes the call, looking worried for his pilots and Maverick. 

"All daggers fly back to ECP. You have bandits headed for you," an officer radios.

"What about Maverick?" Rooster insists.

"Tell him there's nothing he can do for Maverick, not in a goddamn F-18!" Cyclone commands.

"Dagger spare, requesting to launch and provide air cover," Hangman radios in, wanting to help. He had come a long way from the beginning of this detachment.

"Negative, spare," someone calls out.

"Launch search and rescue," Warlock tries. He doesn't want to believe Maverick is gone either. The man had been a great friend over the years.

"Negative," Cyclone answers back. "Not with bandits in the air."

"But sir, Maverick is still out there," Hondo tries.

"We are not losing anyone else today," Cyclone defends his decision. "Get them home now!"

"Dagger, you are not to engage, repeat, do not engage."

"Rooster, those bandits are closing. We can't go back," Phoenix tells him.

"Rooster, he's gone. Mavericks gone," Bob says.

And then Rooster decides to follow in his godfather’s footsteps, quite literally, and disobey orders. His plane gets shot down, and now two pilots are lost. "Dagger 2 is hit. Dagger 2 is hit."

Cyclone looks down in despair while Warlock looks worried. "Dagger 2, come in, Dagger 2, do you copy?" an officer radios.

There is no answer.

"Dagger 2, come in." Still nothing.

They had lost him.

Rooster and Maverick were gone.

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Jia had made her way to the Hard Deck sometime during the second day of the mission.

If there was anyone who could give her some advice, it was Penny Benjamin.

Knocking on the front door frame, Jia steps into the bar. "Penny? You here?"

The kitchen door swung open, revealing the woman she was looking for. "Hey Jia. What's up?"

Before she started talking, Jia took one of the boxes Penny was carrying, helping her get the last of her stock to the bar.

"I had a question that I think only you can really answer for me."

Penny looked up from her spot behind the bar counter, realizing this was a serious question. She gestured to one of the stools before walking around the counter herself.

"How do you do it? With Maverick gone all the time?" Jia didn't know the full story between the two older adults, but it was more than obvious they cared for each other deeply.

Penny takes a breath, letting it out and sighing slightly. "By now, it's not as hard. That has more to do with Pete's inability to follow orders than anything else. But in the early days, it was definitely a challenge. I thought I would be fine. Growing up in the Navy had given me experience in the 'gone' department, but I wasn't. It was a different kind of missing when it came to someone you loved like that."

Jia was listening intently to Penny's words. Having met Maverick, she could definitely see where the authority issue came up, and it made her smile a bit.

"The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to trust in your person. Know that they will do whatever it takes to come back home to you. Never doubt that love because it is, perhaps, the most powerful motivator in the world."

Penny gave such great advice that Jia couldn't find any faults.

She just had to trust and believe in Reuben. She always had, and she always will. Now it was just a waiting game.

Unfortunately, there was no good advice for that. It was just a part of life.

But as Penny said, love was the best motivator.

And there was no doubt in Jia's mind that Reuben would come home to her.

✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

Word count: 1,415

The mission is over and Jia is stressed! But Penny to the rescue, we love her.

Reunions coming next chapter and perhaps just a little bit of food. Bye guys!!

(Gif by me)