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Chapter nine:

Hollywood and Ice are the first ones to take off, me shortly after. Maverick is left behind as backup. We follow the directions we're given from the command centre and make it to the ship.
"Voodoo one, you've got a pair of bogies, 12 o'clock, 15 miles." We hear over the comms.
"Voodoo one, Voodoo one, 090 radar contact 15 miles. They're doing 500 knots." Slider replies.
"Roger, that's your bogey." Command answers.
"Got them dead ahead, 15 miles, air speed is 600 knots. Bogies' air speed, 650. We're a little close together. Let's take a wider split." Slider reports. I pull on the controls to put more space between me, Hollywood and Ice so we can cover more area.
"They're at 15,000 feet now, dead ahead, ten miles. Air speed is still increasing. 800 knots. Dead ahead, now, 8 miles."
"Wood, you got'em?" Wolfman asks his pilot.
"Not yet, i can't see'em." He replies as they both look around for the incoming enemy.
"They must be close."

"Okay Wood, I'm taking the lead. Let's identify'em." Ice says while clipping his mask in place.
"Roger, Ice, you got the lead. I'm on your left side, a little low."
"Roger, I'm on your right, low." I tell Ice, following his lead as the bogeys slowly come into view.

"Mavericks up and ready on Alert five." One of the people in command tells Stinger who's in charge of this mission.
Maverick sits in his jet with his mask on, listening to the comms as he waits until he's needed. His nerves have calmed down since he's been on deck.

"Hollywood, my bogeys still locked up. He's drifting to the left. Still maneuvering, course 090."
"Okay, Wood, let's bring it to the right, and we'll get a better angle on them." Says Ice as we stay in formation, moving right.

I start to get a bad feeling in my gut as i continue to glance at the radar. 'Something doesn't feel right.'
My feelings are confirmed when i hear Slider over the comms.
"Ice, we got a problem here. Now I'm breaking out four aircraft on radar. Not one pair, two pair. Repeat, four bogies."
"Wood, Hawk, we got four bogies." Ice repeats to us. The enemy jets switch position, revealing more.
"Wrong! Make that five!" Wolfman yells as he spots another one.
"OH SHIT!" Hollywood exclaims, pulling on his controls when he hears the familiar beep of target lock from the enemy plane behind him.
"He's got radar lock on us!" Wolfman shouts, frantically looking over his shoulder.
"Get outta there, Hollywood! Get outta there, goddamn it!" Ice warns. Wood starts doing all kinds of maneuvers, trying to disrupt the lock on them. A missile is fired.
"Break Left!" I shout at them as the missile hits the back of their plane.
"I'm hit! I'm hit! We're coming apart! I can't control it. Zero for twenty! We're going down!" Wood and Wolfman shout.
"Wood's been hit! Wood's hit!" Me and Ice report to the tower.
"We've lost Hollywood! Repeat, we've lost Hollywood!" I inform command.

"Launch Maverick on Alert five. Get a bearing on Hollywood and Wolfman and launch the rescue helicopter immediately." Stinger orders.
Maverick starts up his engine before taking off from the ship, preparing to join the fight.

"Maverick's airborne." I hear Maverick say over comms.
"Iceman, Hawk, what's your position?" Asks Merlin from the back seat of mavericks jet.
"090 at 180 miles." He answers.
"There's four migs on our tails, that makes six bogeys." I tell Ice as i move to avoid the migs behind me while keeping an eye on him.
"He's firing, break right!" I tell Ice as the bullets just barely miss Ice's jet.
"Shit! Breaking right!" I shout, narrowly avoiding shots from a mig that caught me off guard. I can feel the adrenaline running through my veins and my heart pounding as i move the controls around, trying to keep away from the three bogies chasing me while trying to help Ice with the three bogies chasing him.
"Maverick's supersonic. I'll be there in 30 seconds." I hear Maverick say over comms. I relax ever so slightly knowing backup is coming.
"Move your ass! Get up here! I'm engaged with three. Repeat, three, I'm in deep shit!" Ice calls out.

Me and Ice fly every which way, avoiding fire from the bogies as we're outnumbered.
"Watch your back! Watch your back!" Slider calls as a Mig gets behind them into firing position.
Ice breaks right, barely missing the missile as it flies past them.
"Shit, that was close! Maverick, how about some help down here? Where the hell are you, goddamn it?!" Ice yells.
I only manage a quick glance up high to see Mavericks plane above the fight as the rest of us are flying all over like moths to a light.
"Maverick, how about some help? Engage, damnit." I call to him, still trying to evade the bogies.
"Mavericks, we got a Mig on our tail." Says Merlin. Mav looks over his shoulder to check.
"Watch out! Watch out!" Merlin shouts as Mav quickly maneuvers to avoid hitting the Mig that crossed in front of them.
"Shit, we just flew right through his jet wash. Get control Mav, get control!" Merlin shouts as the jet spins out of control, he manages to steady it.
"Good recovery Mav." Merlin compliments. Mav sits there, his breathing heavy as he pulls the jet up.
"Come on, we gotta help Ice and Hawk. Come on, let's get back in the game, Maverick! Come on! Get in there, Maverick!" Merlin yells at Mav but it's no good, his pleas fall on deaf ears.
"It's no good. It's no good." Mav mutters to himself, saying it just a bit louder the second time as he pulls his jet away from the fight.
"God damn it! Maverick's disengaging!" Slider yells angrily as he watches the jet move away.
"I knew it! Shit!" Ice says after having his doubts about Maverick being back in the air confirmed.

"Come on! Maverick! What the hell are you doing? We can't leave them." I can hear Merlin yelling at his pilot.
Over the sound of jets flying and avoiding target lock i faintly hear Maverick say to himself.
"Talk to me Goose."
Maverick squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, snapping them open again as he maneuvers his jet back into the fight.

"Maverick's reengaging, sir." A man tells Stinger as he watches the radar in the tower.

"I can't get him off my tail!" Ice says.
"I've got two bogies trailing me." I inform them.
"Ice, I've got your Mig dead ahead." Mav says as he flies behind them getting a lock. "I've got tone! I've got tone! Firing!" He says.
His missile takes out the bogey while i manage to take out one of my own.
"Two Migs, dead ahead. Closing at 800 miles an hour. Says Slider.

As i take out another Mig, i notice one on Mavericks tail.
"Maverick, we got a Mig on our tail." Merlin says.
"I can't leave Ice."
"It's coming around, it's coming around."
"I'm not leaving my wingman." Mav says, determination in his voice. I almost don't notice the proud smile that creeps its way onto my face when i hear Mav's words.
Ice gets behind Mav to get the Mig, it get's hit.
"Ice watch out there's a Mig to your right!" I warn as i take care of the last of the Migs on my tail.
"He's firing!" Slider shouts as bullets puncture the side of their jet.
"I'm hit. I'm hit!" He calls.
"We're hit in the right engine." Slider tells his pilot.
"I'm shutting it down." says Ice.
Maverick is behind the bogey that's behind Ice, I'm off to the side of the bogey.
"Ice, i can't get a tone!" Shouts Mav.
"Shoot, maverick! I can't get him off my tail!" Ice calls back as more bullets hit the other side of him.
Maverick makes a shot with a missile but misses. I see the bogey make a move to hit Ice with a missile. I know Ice's plane can't take that hit.
I speed up from beside the bogey and cut in front of the missile. It doesn't get a solid hit on me but it does take out a wing.
"I'm hit! I'm hit!" I call over the comms as my plane plummets through the clouds and toward the water below.
"Hawk!" I hear Ice and Maverick yell. I can hear the fear and worry in both their voices.
"I'm going down! I'm going down!" I say, my heart races as it feels like it's dropped to my stomach.
"Hawk, eject!" Ice calls."
"You can't save it, EJECT, EJECT!" I hear Maverick holler. 'I've never heard him this panicked before, not even during the accident'
I pull my ejection handle, the canopy flies off but i feel the left side of my head get hit as i shoot out.
"Y/N!" Is the last thing i hear from Ice and Mav as everything goes black.