Top Gun: Phantom| Rooster

Chapter 8.

When my alarm got of I felt like smashing it against the wall.
I quickly got ready and made myself a coffee.
When I remembered that my car was still at the base I decided that I would take my bike.
As I got out I saw Rooster in his pick up truck waiting in front of my house.
"You need a ride?", he asked while pulling his sunglasses down.
I smiled as I nodded and got in the car.
"I thought since your car is still broken I'd be the nice guy I am and pick you up", he explained himself.
"I appreciate it", I thanked him.
The radio was playing softly in the background while I enjoyed the warm air blowing into my face because of the rolled down windows.
"How's your arm?", I asked.
"Great, thankfully, a lovely nurse took care of it right after it happened", he said as he smiled at me.
"Why are you being so nice to me?", I looked at him.
"You deserve being treated nicely", he smiled as he looked at me.
A few moments of silent followed where he didn't stop looking at me.
"Keep your eyes on the road, Playboy", I said as I turned my head away.
-
When we sat down, Bates was standing in front of us instead of Maverick.
He sat in the back and looked very worried.
"Are we in trouble?", Rooster whispered.
"I guess we are about to find out", I whispered back.

"The uranium enrichment plant that is your target is being delivered earlier. Ten days time to be exact. As a result, your mission has been moved up one week in order to avoid contaminating the target alley with radiation.", he explained and let Maverick come back to the front.
"He's joking right?", I asked.
"I don't think so", Bob turned around.
"We have one week left to focus on phase two. It's the most difficult stage of the mission. It's a pop- up strike with a steep dive requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles", Maverick started explaining.
When I get nervous I tend to shake my legs.
When Rooster noticed he put his hand on my knee.
"Two pairs of F-18s will fly in a welded wing formation. Precise coordination of these aircrafts is essential to both the missions success and your survival. As you know, the plant rests between two mountains. On final approach, you'll invert directly into a steep dive. Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide. The two-seat aircraft will paint the target with a laser bulls eye while the first pair will breach the reactor by dropping a laser guided bomb on an exposed ventilation hatch. That will create an opening for the second pair. That's miracle number one", he explained.
When Rooster noticed that I got nervous again he began to stroke my knee with his tumb.
That was a really dangerous mission.
It almost seemed like it was impossible to get out of there alive.
"The second team will deliver the kill shot. If they miss, the whole mission is a failure. Egress is a steep high- G climb out to avoid hitting this mountain", he said as he showed out the mountain on the screen behind him.
"A steep climb at that speed, you're pulling at least eight Gs", Rooster added.
"Nine, minimum", Maverick corrected him.
"The stress limit of the F-18s airframe is 7.5", Rooster said.
"You'll have to do the climb out, even if it means bending your airframe", Maverick explained while the admiral had an angry look on his face.
He probably didn't like him risking damage to the planes.
"You'll be pulling so hard, you'll weigh close to 2,000 pounds. It will feel like your skull is crushing your spine and your lungs imploding like an elephants sitting on your chest. You have to fight with everything you have just to keep from blacking out. This is where you'll be at your most vulnerable. This is coffin corner. So assuming you avoid crashing into this mountain, you'll climb straight up into enemy radar while losing all of your airspeed. Within seconds, you'll be fired upon SAMs. You've all faced sustained Gs before, but this-", he shook his head.
"Is this even possible?", Coyote asked.
"That's up to you", Maverick said as he looked down.
He didn't seem very convinced himself.
"You don't have to do this you know?", Rooster whispered.
"You don't have to either", I whispered back.
He knew that I wouldn't just back out.
That's not my thing. It's wasn't his thing too.
"Alright", he smirked.

Everyone stayed silent for a while. Everyone except of Hangman.
"Who's ready to rumble!", he yelled as he stood up.
I threw my head back because I was so annoyed of him.
"Don't", Rooster said as I looked at Hangman.
"I wasn't gonna say anything", I said.
"Right", he said sarcastically.

"Let's go aviators, time is running", Maverick told us and left the room.