Avalanche

| the phases |

"Why are they dead?" Maverick asked Phoenix, who feeling the heat under Maverick's steady glare.

He was not happy with our results. Trust me, I wasn't either.

"The SAMs took our planes out." She replied lamely.

He doesn't look satisfied with her answer, so I add, "We broke the 300 foot ceiling, sir."

Maverick shook his head. "No, why are they dead?" He asked the classroom.

Coyote took a breath, and then spoke his mind. "I didn't speed up when I was supposed to. It's my fault."

Maverick crosses his arms and  questions, "Was there a reason why you didn't communicate with your team?"

Coyote tried to say, "I was focusing on—"

Maverick interrupts Coyote. "What excuse will their family accept at the funeral?"

"None, sir." Coyote says, putting up a wall of stone on his face, as his jaw flexes and unforced out of anger and disappointment.

Maverick turned to me. "Why didn't you just slow down your aircraft?"

I replied honestly, "I didn't anticipate it, sir. Coyote said he was going to speed up, and I trusted him. A little too much." I muttered.

"Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were all briefed on the terrain of the mission."

Phoenix goes to open her mouth, but Maverick interrupts her, "Don't tell it to me, tell it to his family." Maverick says, looking at Bob for a moment.

He moves back to the front of the classroom, switching it to Hagman, Payback, and Fanboy's turn.

Hangman did make it to the target in time, but he left Payback and Fanboy behind to die. They ended up clipping the edge of the canyon, instantly dying.

"What happened?" Maverick asked their group.

"I flew as fast as I could." Hangman says with a smirk, "Kinda like my life depended on it."

"And you left your team behind, which killed them." Rooster said.

Hangman turned to face him and simply said, "They couldn't keep up."

That was hot.

"Glad to know we can count on you, Hangman." Phoenix says behind me.

Maverick turns to Rooster, "Why is your team dead?"

"Sir, they're the only one who made it to the target out of all of us." Phoenix said.

Maverick, "A whole minute late, he gave enemy aircraft them to shoot him down," He looks at Rooster and his crew, "he's dead."

Rooster argues, "You don't know that."

"You're not flying fast enough. You don't have a second to waste." Hangman says.

"We made it to the target." Rooster enunciated every word.

"And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out." Mav says angrily, stating an all too real possibility.