Storm | B. Bradshaw

1

Your here at the requests of the Admirals

Those words had echo in Maverick's mind, he was asked to return. He knew Tom and his wife Diana had something to do with this.

He walked into the building, He saw the photo of Him, Ace and Iceman. He saw the solo photos along with Spade.

"Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Your reputation precedes you." Cyclone said.

"Thank you, sir." Maverick responded.

"It wasn't a compliment." Cyclone replied.

"I'm Admiral Beau Simpson, I'm the Air Boss." Cyclone responded. Then he pointed to the man beside him. "This is Rear Admiral Bates."

"Warlock, sir. I must admit, I wasn't expecting an invitation back." Maverick respond.

Warlock stared at Maverick blankly, "They're called orders, Maverick." Warlock responded. "You two have something in common." Warlock continues. "Cyclone, here, was first in his class back in '88."

Maverick thought back on Ace. "Actually sir, I finished second after first place was a tie." Maverick corrected. "Just want to manage expectations." Maverick smiled, trying to get Cyclone to east up even the slightest bit but he wasn't budging.

Warlock acknowledged the awkward tension in the room and nodded towards the TVs behind Maverick, "The..... target." He pressed a button on the control panel in front of him, transitioning the TV screen from its default screen to a blueprint plan. "There's an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant built in violation of multilateral NATO treaty. The uranium produced there represents a direct threat to our allies in the region."

"The Pentagon has tasked us with assembling a strike team and taking it out, before it becomes fully operational." The blueprints zoomed out to show a mock-up of its geography. "The plant sits in an underground bunker at the end of this valley." The screen switched to the valley's median plane. "Said valley is GPS- jammed and defended by an extensive surface-to-air missile array serving a limited number of fifth-generation fighters, which, in turn, are backed up by a plentiful reserve of surplus aircraft. Even a couple of F-14s."

"Seems like we're not the only ones holding onto old relics." Cyclone smartly chimed in.

"What's your read, Captain?" Warlock questioned Maverick.

Maverick faced the screen and used his index finger to point towards different aspects of the diagram. "Well, sir, uh, normally, this would be a cakewalk for the the F-35 stealth, but the GPS-Jamming negates that. The surface air threat necessitates a low-level. laser-guided strike tailor-made for the F-18. I figure..." He pursed his lips in thought as he further studied the three dimensional map. "....two precision bombs, minimum, Makes four aircrafts flying in pairs."

Cyclone and Warlock shared glances with each other, nonverbally sharing their impressed states. Maverick looked over his shoulder at the two men as he pointed at the side of the mountain, "That is one hell of a steep climb out of there. Exposing you to all the surface-to-air missiles." He raised his eyebrows, "And if you survive that.... it's a dogfight all the way home."

"All requirements for which you have real-world experience." Warlock spoke.

Maverick glance back at him, "Not the same mission, sir." He faced the screens and looked wistfully towards the floor, "No.... someone's not coming back from this."

Cyclone disregarded Maverick's solemn tone of voice and asked directly, "Can it be done or not?"

Maverick hesitated before asking a follow-up question, "How soon before the plant becomes operational?"

"Three weeks." Warlock replied, "maybe less."

Maverick turned his body back towards the two admirals, "Well, it's been a while since I've flown a F-18 and," He shook his head. "I'm not sure who I trust to fly the other three.... but I'll find a way to make it work."

Cyclone and Warlock exchanged another set of glances before one of them spoke. "I think you misunderstand, Captain."

"....Sir?"

"We don't want you to fly it." Cyclone clarified. "We want you to teach it."

Maverick furrow his brows. "Teach...sir?"

Warlock switched to the next screen as Cyclone narrated, "We recalled fifteen TOPGUN gradutes from their squadrons. We want you to narrow that pool down to six or seven." Maverick turned back towards the screen nonchalantly, only to do a double-take once he saw the two rightmost portraits. "They'll fly the mission." Maverick stayed silent.

"Is there a problem, Captain?" Cyclone asked.

"You know there is, sir."

"Yeah." This time, Cyclone clicked on the control panel to zoom into a candidate's portrait, blowing up the picture of the male, making Maverick's heart skip a beat. "Bradley Bradshaw, aka Rooster. I understand you used to fly with his old man." Maverick looked at his portrait, again noticing the uncanny resemblance between the two. "what was his call sign?"

His death replayed in Maverick's mind. Ace's having a hard time.

"Goose, sir.."

"Tragic what happened." Cyclone quickly stated, voice void of emotion.

"Captain Mitchell was cleared of any wrongdoing," Warlock said matter-of-factly. "Goose's death was an accident, Iceman's wife saw the whole thing as she and Spade was trying to escape, it has left her traumatized to this day, not to mention she's been there for both his wife and Rooster."

"Is that how you see it, Captain?" Cyclone asked, bringing up old wounds, wounds that Ace struggled with, He nodded towards Rooster's picture. "Is that how Goose's son sees it?" Then switch Rooster's portrait over with Storm

He looked at Lindsey "Storm" Kazansky's photo once more. "Goodness." Maverick muttered as he saw Storm.. "Iceman and Ace's daughter, Storm, in fact even though they have two sons together, their only daughter took up the family honor, hell of a pilot, she was number one in her class." Cyclone said. "Just like the both of them." Maverick responded.

Then Cyclone pulled up Domino and Vadar. "I take it you know these two as well?" He asked. "Yes, Domino is Admiral Spade's daughter and Vadar, she's Slider's which she is also Ace's niece." Maverick responded. "Deja vu." He muttered. "The three of them.... quite a team." Cyclone added.

"Storm, I know you had issues with her, but not enough for her to stop speaking to you, still holds it over your head because she went into the navy around the same time as Rooster, she waited to start until he had started but I know if you prevent her and Rooster from going on this mission, that will cause more problems for you, she will most certainly never speak to you again." Cyclone said.

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not a teacher."

Cyclone shrugged, "You were a TOPGUN instructor before."

"That was thirty years ago, I lasted two months." Maverick shook his head, "That's not where I belong."

"Well, then let me be perfectly blunt." Cyclone shook his head, "You were not my first choice... in fact, you weren't even on the list. You are here at the request of Admiral Kazansky, his wife and Spade. Now, those three, happens to be someone I deeply admire, especially Ace with the legacy she left, they seem to think that you have something left to offer the Navy." He shook his head again, "What that is, I can't imagine."

Cyclone leaned forward in his seat, resting his weight on his forearms, "You don't have to take this job, but let me be clear. This will be your Last post, Captain. You fly for TOPGUN or you don't fly for the Navy ever again."

....

As Maverick left he called Ice, which he didn't respond. Then he called Ace twice but it went to voice mail.

"Is she declining my calls?" Maverick pondered as he then made his way to Hard Deck.