Legacies •Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw•

Chapter 9

It was time for another training session. They all to reperform what they were doing yesterday, except they had to start from the very beginning, they had to complete the whole course, as if it was the real mission. They had run a couple of test runs earlier in the morning as a warm-up. Rooster, Coyote, and a few other pilots had already run their courses. It was about mid-day now and everyone was already exhausted as Maverick was pushing everyone to their limits. Right now, Winter, Silver, and Hangman were up in the air.

"Talk to me, Silver," Lani called to her RIO. "We are looking good on time, but we are hitting it close," he informed. "Copy, let's increase speed, try to stay with me, Winter," Hangman said over the comms before increasing speed. Lani scoffed, "as if you're hard to keep up with," she said with a smile as she increased speed. Out of nowhere, a constant alarm rang from the back of the plane. Silver looked around confused, "what the heck? Wait who the hell is out here?" Maverick's voice came through the comms, "blue team, you've been spotted." Hangman groaned, "shit it's Maverick." Winter giggled, "I'm sure Mav is saying 'oh shit, it's Winter, Silver, and Hangman'." Xavier shook his head, "oh, yeah I'm sure he is saying that."

"Alright, where is he Silver?" Lani asked. "20 miles left. Ten o'clock, 700 knots closure," he responded. "What do you think, Winter?" Jake asked. "Never, thought you would be looking to me for orders Trashman. Guess there is a first time for everything. Stay on course, we still got distance from the fossil," she replied. "Roger, Frosty," Hangman said. "He's swinging around to the north!" Silver informed. "We're almost there," Winter said. "Be ready on the laser, Silver," Jake ordered. "Copy. I'm on it," X said. "I'm hoping you kids didn't forget about me," Maverick said as he got closer to the team. "Popping now," Jake said as both he and Winter pulled their planes up before going into an inverted dive. "Talk to me, Silver. Where's Maverick?" Lani asked. "Five miles out. He's coming fast," he informed.

"Target's in sight," Winter informed as they straightened their planes out. "Roger. Laser, Silver?" Hangman said. "Shit! The laser is no good! I can't get a lock," Silver informed. "Damn it! Hangman drop blind!" Lani ordered. "Copy that. Dropping blind," he said as he did his best to aim for the target, but his missile missed the target. "That's a miss!" Jake said frustratedly. "Damn it!" Lani said as both she and Hangman pulled up, going for the steep climb.

As they were going up Maverick got a lock on Winter and Silver. "That's tone," Maverick informed as the beeping came through to Winter's jet. "Maverick's got missile lock on us," Silver informed. "Shit! Hangman, we're dead," Winter said before pulling right and leveling out her plane. "Blue team, that's a fail. Level out, Hangman," Maverick ordered but there was no response. "Hangman? Do you copy?" Winter tried but still no response as she pulled her plane next to Maverick. All of a sudden, they watched Hangman's plane begin to free fall. "Shit, Mav, he's in G-LOC. I'm going after him," Winter informed as she immediately increased speed. Maverick had the same idea and followed her. "Come on, come on!" Silver whispered to himself. A constant beeping noise rang through the three planes as Maverick and Winter got a missile lock on Hangman at the same time. The constant ringing snapped Hangman out of his trance, and he quickly pulled his plane up the second he realized he was just a few feet from hitting the ground.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. "Hangman, you, okay?" Maverick asked. "I'm okay. I'm good," he responded a bit out of breath. "Good. Good. That's enough for today," Maverick added. "Geez, that was way too close," Winter said as she pulled up beside Maverick once again. "Too close," Silver added. Just when they thought they were in the clear, a flock of birds came through. "Bird strike! Bird strike!" Maverick yelled. There was a loud rumbling that came from Winter's plane as it started to shift. "Winter, left engine's on fire!" Silver informed. "Shit! Climbing," she said as she pulled her plane up for altitude. "Throttling back. Shutting off fuel to the left engine. Extinguishing fire," she informed. "Right engine is out!" Silver yelled. "It's still spinning. Trying to restart it," Winter said. Maverick watched his niece's plane from under, "Winter it's on fire don't start it!" Winter pulled up higher, "throttling up," but as she did her right engine went out and her plane started to go down. "Oh, my gosh," Maverick whispered to himself, being reminded of the accident he almost lost Goose in.