The flight deck was what Abigail expected to be the most intimidating place she had to be.
But she was wrong, very wrong, the command room was dark, cold and loud.
The chaos of the flight deck was comforting, She'd seen it a million times, the command room was unfamiliar and intimidating.
Iceman seemed to be able to tell placing a hand on her shoulder, "If anything goes wrong, I'm pulling you out," He told her.
"Admiral-" Abigail started, "There's no but, something goes wrong you leave, I won't negotiate" Iceman insisted.
"Dagger one, away, Dagger two away, Dagger three away, dagger four away,"
"LCDR, Dagger one standby check-in," Jake said.
"Hangman, check in-picture is clear, recommend Dagger continue,"
"Copy, Daggers descend below the radar," In the space of a few seconds, the steady blinking of the radar vanished.
The four distinct visuals had now gone, completely undetected by the radar system.
"Daggers now below radar, switching to E2 picture," Switches were flipped bringing up the locations of the Dagger squad once again, to see 2 planes moving at a steady pace kept Abigail's heart from exploding inside her chest.
"LCDR, picture clean," one of the people said, the room fell silent a collective knowing that this one is it, the final moment of no return.
Holding her breath Abigail closed her eyes tight, exhaling slowly.
"Decision is yours, Captain," the Person said turning to Maverick who Abigail hadn't even realised was in the room.
Maverick paused before giving his final decision, "Dagger attack,"
"Daggers, assume attack formation" A few seconds went past as she watched them change formation on the E2 system.
"Daggers set, proceeding to target, two minutes and thirty seconds in three, two, one, mark," the person set the timer, as did the pilots.
So far so good .
At the sudden and abrupt beeping of her radar, everyone turned to the large screen.
"Daggers, LCDR here, we're picking up two bandits, signal for two contacts," someone said.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Cyclone asked as she tried to get more of a visual.
"Long-range patrol?" Iceman asked trying to make an educated guess as Abigail gripped his arm.
"We were told there was no patrol at this time," Maverick said.
"What's their heading?" Phoenix asked as the person scrambled to repeat their findings.
"They're heading away from us, they don't know we're here," Fanboy chimed in.
A small collective sigh was released in the room.
"Hangman and Bob have landed," Phoenix reported.
Abigail's heart sank into the pit of her stomach, a bloody vomit sensation rising.
"Sir- we're getting an unreported image-" before the report was finished warning signals were going off.
"Up! Up! Higher Dagger 1! We're getting reports of bandits circling!" They ordered.
"Safe, new altitude, we can see them from our new position,"
"Keep target on them "
"Hangman, Bob, come in, copy "
"We've gotten in through the mapped back route, Over " Hangman's hushed voice answered.
"Do you know your route?"
"Affirmative," he answered, "Going silent,"
And suddenly the static of the radios was cut leaving a thick blanket of silence.
"Miracle 1 complete," Cyclone said as he came to stand between Maverick and Abigail.
"How many more do we need?" Abigail asked closing her arms around herself.
"You don't wish to know,"
"I believe I do Admiral," She said quickly.
"At least 4, we need Phoenix and Fanboy to not be spotted for the duration of the mission, we need Bob and Hangman to collect the data we need, they need to leave undetected and then both planes need to leave enemy territory still without being detected," Cyclone listed.
"The uranium mission needed Miracles too," Abigail reasoned.
"And we were lucky for that, now we're needing those Miracles again," Cyclone answered.
"And another one," Maverick added.
"However, we picked perfectly capable pilots who are able to achieve this mission without the intervention of miracles," Iceman assured.
"Ice you know better than anyone-" Maverick started but swiftly silenced himself at the glare Iceman gave him.
"Data retrieved," Hangman's voice crackled through the speakers.
"Good job Lieutenants, now get out and swiftly "
Abigail clasped her hands together placing it to her mouth whispering to herself.
Cyclone stepped back to his post between her and Maverick.
"I didn't know you were religious," he said recognising the hushed whispers as a prayer.
"I'm not," Abigail answered simply.
"Dagger 1 coming in, copy," Phoenix's comms lit up.
"Copy," the LCDR said.
"I have eyes on Hangman and Bob," she reported.
"Oh shit!" Fanboy yelled.
"Down! Down! One of them is down! I can't see who from this height!" He reported.
"Hangman! Bob! Report!" The LCDR ordered.
The command room fell silent, too silent, So silent Abigail swore everyone could hear her heart trying to escape from her chest.
"Abigail-" Iceman prompted, a hand going to her back, "No," she said quickly jerking away from him.
"You can't be here," Iceman insisted.
"I need to know who was shot," she said grounding her feet.
"Hangman! Bob! Come in!" Cyclone repeated the order.
"H-Here," Hangman panted through comms.
"Fanboy reported an injury, confirm,"
"Enemy snuck up behind us, shot Bob, I shot back, I can't confirm death of Enemy," he reported.
"Status of Bob?"
"Bad, he's injured badly but-"
Abigail's shock allowed her to be pulled out by Iceman.
The San Diego air was too hot, way too hot, even in the middle of the sea, the command room, the air felt like 10 more pounds were added to Abigail's shoulder as she allowed Ice to escort her in the direction of her office on the boat.
"Abigail!" Rooster called, Iceman waited for him to come over, being able to see tear tracks glisten against Abigail's cheeks, the firm grasp Iceman had on her arm and the solomness of her face
"That bad?" He asked walking over.
"Everything will be fine," Iceman assured. "Please take Abigail to her office and don't let her leave,"
"Abby, Abbs, tell me what's wrong?" Rooster asked gently, having her sit on the leather couch in her office that he occasionally napped on.
"They were getting back to the plane, it was going well, I was hopeful, they got the data and then Fanboy started shouting said one of them was shot, Bob. . .Bob has been shot and i-it's bad according to, t-to Jake," her breath became more ragged as she felt tears well.
"Come on honey," he said gently opening his arms to her hugging her closely.
"Bob's gonna be fine,"