ALPHA STRIKE |rooster x oc|

chapter 27- radar

All of them rushed to the command room on board. As they entered a large radar board on the wall showed a single blip labeled "Rooster". Hangman was right. The marker was moving at flying speed. 

"What the.." Phoenix trailed off. 

"How? How the hell is flying right now?" Clarke demanded. 

"We're not sure. My guess, he found a plane that survived our missiles." Hondo gave a shrug.

"You mean the enemy air strip that we bombed before we went off radar?" Payback piqued in.

"That's so badass!" Fanboy said with a little too much excitement, earning a scowl from Clarke. The smile quickly disappeared as he mouthed 'sorry'. They all intently watched as the blip got closer and closer to the carrier. Clarke was barely breathing, unable to focus on anything other than the fact the screen only said "Rooster". Where was Mav? Was he still alive? She let out a shaky breath and pinched her eyes shut, hoping to stop any horrid thoughts from creeping into her mind. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Hangman checking in on her.

"You okay?" he whispered. She shook her head.

"Not really, there's only one name up there."

- - - 

"You've got to be shitting me. An F-14?" Rooster marveled as he saw the old plane through his binoculars. 

"I've shot down 3 migs in one of those things." Maverick countered. "Plus, it's all we've got. Let's go." He instructed as he stood and began jogging over to the plane, Rooster following closely behind. They soon reached the plane, Maverick quickly looking around at the various pins and gauges on the wall of the shelter. "Okay, when I give you the signal flip this switch and pull all the pins. Then, don't forget to stow the ladder once you get in." Rooster nodded and Maverick climbed into the plane. He let out a heavy sigh as he saw the outdated dashboard filled with switches and sensors he hadn't seen in almost 20 years. "Been a minute, huh Mav?" he asked himself before giving Rooster the go ahead. Rooster quickly pulled the pins and climbed in, stowing the ladder. He sat in the back seat, eyes wide as he saw the array of buttons he had only ever seen in old books.

"Oh my God, this thing is so old!" he marveled allowed. Maverick just nodded as he began to taxi the jet onto the runway, but stopped. Rooster moved his head to the side to peer between the canopy and Mav's head out to the runway. "Mav," he breathed. "This is a taxi-way, a very short taxi-way. Not a runway."

"Yeah, I can see that," Maverick sighed. he thought for a moment before pressing a button and the wings of the jet slowly began going out. The sound caught Rooster's attention and he looked up from the panel of buttons. 

"Why are the wings coming out, Mav?" There was no answer. "Mav?" he asked again. 

"Just...hold on." Mav pushed the throttle forward and the plane began to move. He pushed as much as he could and pulled up. Rooster sat in the back, holding his breath. They both grunted as the landing gear caught on a structure they barely made it over. Once they were in the air Mav was able to think about the next step, and Rooster turned on his personal radar system.

"Okay, Rooster. We need to get comms up and running, see if you can find the breaker."

"Uh," Rooster looked around him with wide eyes. "There's about 300 breakers back here, anything more specific?"

Mav let out a small chuckle, "No, that was your dad's department."

"I figure it out," Rooster assured before allowing a small smile to come on his mouth for a moment. A few minutes later two other planes flew up alongside of them. "Shit. What do we do?"