The team had departed 2 days ago, getting ready for this mission. Maverick had made his choices as to who would be going on the mission with him. He hadn't informed anyone of his decisions yet, despite Nova bugging him to tell her. (She needed to prepare herself for whoever was going.)

The day of the mission arrived, and in the briefing room of the carrier, Maverick and Cyclone stood at the front, ready to assign placements for the mission. Nova was at the back of the room, standing with some of the medical staff aboard the carrier.

"It's been an honor flying with you," Maverick starts, "each one of you represents the best of the best. This is a very specific mission, my choices are a reflection of that and nothing more."

He surveys the pilots he's been training for the past two-ish weeks. In his mind, none of them were ready, hell he was barely ready. But this had to be done. And some had more promise than others.

Cyclone stands next to him. "Choose your two foxtrot teams."

"Payback and Fanboy," Maverick lists the first pair. "Phoenix and Bob," he finished off. Nova jots the pairs down in her notes, mentally deciding what needs to be pulled from their records.

Both pairs give nods, accepting their official positions and beginning to mentally prepare themselves.

"And your wingman," Cyclone continues.

After a moment of hesitation, Maverick calls out one name. "Rooster."

Cyclone looks slightly concerned while Rooster looks up in surprise. Nova sucks in a quick breath. Not only was her father on this mission, but her brother too. She had always known it was a possibility, but now it's staring her in the face.

"The rest of you will stand by on the carrier for any reserved role that's required," Warlock informs the rest. Hangman looks slightly downcast, hoping he had been chosen for the mission. "Dismissed"

The other pilots begin to congratulate the chosen ones, as the medical team left to prepare.

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Rooster walks out to his plane, getting stopped by Hangman on his way.

"You give ‘em hell," Hangman says simply, supporting those who were selected, regardless of his own feelings. "And come home. For her." Rooster nods, knowing that regardless of what was to happen today, Nova would be looked after. He had seen a different side of Hangman when it came to Nova.

"Sir, sir," Rooster calls, trying to get Maverick's attention. "I, I just wanted to say…" he gets interrupted by last calls to aircrafts.

"Well talk, when we get back," Maverick tells him. 

"Hey Bradley, Bradley," Maverick calls out. "Hey, you got this." Rooster nods his head in acknowledgment.

Nova had wished them all luck before they left for the deck. She was pretty sure she had never hugged anyone as tightly as she did to her father and brother. And just before she went back to medical, Warlock told her she was allowed in the command room.

The Dagger Team was ready to depart. "Dagger 1, up and ready for take off," Maverick radios in.

"Dagger spare, standing by," Hangman calls in.

"Dagger 4, up and ready," Payback answers.

"Dagger 3 up and ready," Phoenix says next.

"Dagger 2, up and ready," Rooster chimes in last.

"Support missiles airborne, strike damage ready," a systems control officer says. "Standing by for launch decision."  Warlock looks at Cyclone, who simply says, "send them."

Nova listened in with the Admirals to the Dagger Team. The enemy runway had been destroyed, so it was only a matter of time before reinforcements headed towards Dagger.

But by some miracle, because it was a miracle, both missiles were launched and hit the target. Dagger Team had completed the mission.

Now they just had to make it home. No pressure.

"Here it comes!" Mav yells over the radio. The SAMS start firing. "Smoke in the air, smoke in the air! Break right Phoenix, break right!"

"Emergency maneuvers! Here comes another one," Bob yells out.

"Dagger defending," Maverick deploys flares.

"Rooster, status?!" Maverick calls out. Nova bites her nail nervously as they wait for a reply. She can see their vitals, but that is doing little to ease her anxiety right now. 

"Oh my god," as Rooster pulls out of Coffin  Corner. "Smoke in the air, smoke in the air!"

"Break right Payback, break right!" Fanboy yells out. It's chaos, those in the command room barely able to understand the team.

"Oh my god, here they come," Fanboy warns.

"On your six, Rooster," Payback warns. "Deploying counter missiles," Rooster says, hitting his buttons. "Negative contact!"

"Dagger 1 defending," Maverick calls. 

"Talk to me Bob!" Phoenix calls. "Break right Phoenix, break right!"  he calls back. "9 o’clock, 9 o’clock!"

"Rooster, 2 more on your six," Payback calls out. "Dagger 2 defending!"

"Payback! Same on your nose," Maverick calls. 

"Dagger 4 defending!" 
"Oh my god!"
"Talk to me Bob!"
"Holy shit!"
"Dagger 2 defending!"
"Tally, tally!"
"Break right!"
"I can't see it!"

Pure chaos. That's all that was going on. The air was full of smoke from missiles, flares and jets.

"Dagger 2 defending," Rooster calls out. "Shit I'm out of flares!" Nova stops breathing. Warlock notices her state and grabs her hand. He had watched her grow into the amazing young woman she is now. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

"Rooster evade, evade!" Maverick tells him. "I can't shake ‘em. They're on me! They're on me!"

And then, it happens.

"Mav!" Rooster yells out as Maverick takes a hit meant for him. "No no!" he calls out when Maverick goes down.

"Dagger 1 it hit, I repeat dagger 1 is hit!" Phoenix yells. "Maverick is down!"

Nova all but collapses where she stands. Hondo had made his way over to the woman as well, helping her into a chair.

"Dagger 1 status!" Rooster calls. "Status! Anyone see him? Does anyone see him? Dagger 1! Come in!"

"I didn't see a parachute!" Payback calls out. Nova chokes back a sob.

"We have to circle back," Rooster insists.

"Comanche, bandits inbound single group hot, recommend dagger fly south."

"Get them back to the carrier now," Cyclone makes the call, looking worried for his pilots and Maverick. He can't even look at Nova right now.

"All daggers fly back to ECP, you have bandits headed for you," an officer radios.

"What about Maverick?" Rooster insists.

"Tell him there's nothing he can do for Maverick, not in a goddamn F-18!" Cyclone commands. He tries to ignore Nova's cries, but it's getting harder to do. He's known the girl as long as Warlock had.

"Dagger spare, requesting to launch and provide air cover," Hangman radios in, wanting to help. He doesn't have to be there to know what Nova's reaction is. If he can do anything to help her and his teammates, he will. He just needs the chance.

"Negative, spare," someone calls out.

"Launch search and rescue," Warlock tries. His hand is clamped firmly onto Nova's shoulder.

"Negative," Cyclone answers back. "Not with bandits in the air."

"But sir, Maverick is still out there," Hondo tries. A hiccup comes from Nova.

"We are not losing anyone else today," Cyclone defends his decision. He looks directly at Nova as he says that. He may not have been Maverick's biggest fan, but he never wanted him to crash. Especially not when his daughter was listening in. "Get them home now!"

"Dagger, you are not to engage, repeat, do not engage."

"Rooster, those bandits are closing. We can't go back," Phoenix tells him.

"Rooster, he's gone. Mavericks gone," Bob says. And just hearing Bob of all people say that, sent Nova into a fresh wave of tears.

But Rooster goes back for Maverick, shooting down a helicopter in the process. But his plane gets shot down at the same time, his signal goes out as well.

"Dagger 2 is hit, dagger 2 is hit."

Nova almost missed it. She couldn't believe her ears.

Cyclone looks down in despair while Warlock looks worried. "Dagger 2 come in, dagger 2 do you copy?" an officer radios.

There is no answer.

"Dagger 2 come in." Still nothing.

Hangman looks down at his radio a look of disbelief on his face. And over his radio, he hears the scream that Nova let's out.

She had lost her father and brother within five minutes. And he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

By the grace of God, the two men had survived. Not only had both of them ejected safely, they had managed to steal an enemy plane (an F-14 if you can believe it) and shoot down two enemies, coming to get their plane back.

But a new player, in a fifth generation jet, had arrived. And nothing Maverick did was close to taking down that advanced of a plane.

Maverick had ordered Rooster to eject, trying to save at least one of them. But the handles were jammed after years of sitting and collecting dust. And just as Rooster and Maverick are about to be shot down, Hangman comes to the rescue.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen," Hangman begins smugly. "This is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seatbelt and return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions. And prepare for landing."

From the carrier, Natasha holds up a mentally exhausted Nova. When they had arrived, Natasha all but ran to the woman, apologizing as she hugged her tight. As soon as they got word that Rooster's E-SAT went live, Nova had hope.

Rooster laughs. "Hey Hangman, you look good."

"I am good Rooster," he replies. "I'm very good. I'll see you back on deck. There is someone very anxious to see you both."

Sliding onto the deck of the carrier, they crash right into the net. Stopping, they slowly make their way out of the plane, glad to be back on semi stable ground.

Everyone on deck runs over to them, cheering and clapping. The mission was a success and everyone came home alive.

Phoenix, Bob and some of the others make their way to Rooster, all giving their congratulations. Phoenix grabs Rooster and pulls him into a hug.

But the real show was the father and daughter who were reuniting. As soon as Nova saw Maverick, she bolted. And everyone parted the way for her to launch herself at her father. Maverick held his daughter with everything he had. She was whispering annoyed threats under her breath of everything she was going to do to him for making her think he was dead. But he just kept holding her tight, happy to still be able to do so.

The final one to make their way over is Hangman. He and Rooster just look at each other for a few seconds before Hangman offers his hand. Giving in, Rooster grabs it and shakes his hand, both of them smiling.

"Shot yourself another kill," Rooster says

Always one to brag, Hangman replies, "that makes two."

Phoenix swoops in quickly, "Mav has five, makes him an ace." They can't argue that, both men just shrugging it off before laughing. Phoenix pulls Hangman into a hug as well.

Making his way through the crowd, Rooster tries to find Maverick. "Captain Mitchell, Captain Mitchell," Rooster calls out to Maverick. "Sir."

And before he can say anything else, Mav grabs him for a hug. "Thank you for saving my life," he tells Rooster, immensely grateful.

"It's what my dad would have done," he replies without hesitation. And Maverick just pulls him in for another hug.

But Bradley was pulled from that hug pretty quickly. Nova pulled him in for a hug, just like she had her father. After repeating the exact same threats as before, she released the man before quickly slapping his head.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"You know what that was for Bradley Bradshaw. Don't you ever do that again, you hear me!"

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Word Count: 1,994

The mission is over!!! Everyone is safe!!! And Nova is no longer stressing about everything!!!

No but seriously, I struggled to figure out how I wanted Nova to fit in. I doubt she would have actually been allowed into the command room, but I wanted her to react to the mission in real time.

And don't worry, Nova's thank you to Jake is coming next chapter, I promise.

So until next time, bye guys!!!