Jaguar ~ Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 3

I wake up and put on my uniform. I then ride to the hanger to await orders. I take a seat and look to my left. Phoenix. I smile at her. She doesn't return the smile. 'Maybe a little more work than anticipated. We snap to attention as Warlock steps on the podium. He then addresses us all. I scan the room and spot everyone. 'Rooster, Phoenix, Hangman, Coyote, Bob, Payback, Fanboy, Harvard, Yale, Halo, Omaha and Fritz.' I thought. "Good morning. Take your seats." Warlock begins. We take our seats and he continues. "I'm Admiral Bates, NAWDC Commander.Welcome to your special training detachment. You're all Top Gun graduates, the elite, best of the best. That was yesterday. You've all spent your careers flying close air support for troops on the ground with little to no air-to-air threat. Rooster and Phoenix share a look and sit up as Warlock reveals the image of a new enemy fighter. "The enemy's new fifth generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the technological advantage. Success,now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box." Hangman winks at Phoenix, who just rolls her eyes sliding him the middle finger. I chuckle and Phoenix looks over to me in surprise. She doesn't smile but there's warmth in hr look. Warlock continues. "This mission requires two F-18 Echo solo pilots and two Foxtrot dual seat teams. Half of you will make the cut, half will remain in reserve... One of you will be named Mission Leader."  Hangman, Rooster and I share a glance. 'It's on.'  

"Your instructor is a Top Gun graduate with real-world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary and he is considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced." I catch Cyclone shaking his head. 'Jesus'. "What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death. I give you Captain Pete Mitchell, call sign: Maverick". When I hear this name my expression becomes icy. I look over to Rooster. He looks angry. Phoenix shoots me a concerned glance. She understands the significance of this moment. Or thinks she does.Maverick steps to the podium and the other pilots recognize him immediately. They all squirm, Hangman especially.Maverick looks past Rooster to Hangman and nods as if to say"that's right." He raises a thick bound. He begins."Good morning. The F-18 NATOPS. It contains everything there is to know about your aircraft. What's the load limit of a F-18?" "7.5 kgs's. Section four chapter five." Hangman replied "Max airspeed?" He asked "Mach 1.8. Section Two, Chapter One." Maverick points to me "Lift limit?" I glared at him before speaking. "34 Alpha." "Maximum role rate?" "Two hundred and twenty five degrees per second." I replied MAVERICK "Maximum afterburner." I just glared at him i opened my mouth but Payback answered first. " 42,000 pounds of thrust." "Max rate of climb, everyone." We all replied but Rooster and I. "Forty-five thousand feet  per minute." "So you know the manual. Inside and out. Along with the so-called limits of your aircraft." "Yes, Damn straight, sir." They reply. He drops his copy of the manual in the trash. I sigh. The other trainees esreact. Cyclone glowers, throws a look to Warlock. "...So does your enemy." I catch Hondo whispering to himself. "What the enemy doesn't know is you.Your limits. I intend to find them.Test them. Push beyond... Flying faster than the speed of sound with one split second to make a life or death decision requires a level of trust, feel, instinct that doesn't exist in any manual." Maverick and I make eye contact. "Today we're going to start with what you only think you know. Show me what you're made of." I grinned. 'You're in for a treat old man.' I thought before getting up.

I walk to my F-18. Maverick comes up behind me. "Jaguar." He calls. "Ace." He calls again. I don't turn. "Lieutenant Cortell!" I turn to face him. "Yes sir." "Lets not do it like this." He says. "You gonna wash me out and leave me again?" I ask. "That's up to you. Not me." He replied. "Am I dismissed?" I asked. "Good morning, aviators. This is your Captain speaking. Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers." Maverick says through the radio. "Morning, Sir." Fanboy replies. "As briefed the arena today is a ten mile radius. The hard deck is five thousand feet. The exercise is dog-fighting and the rules are simple.Working as a team, you have to shoot me down. Or else." Maverick says. "Or else what, Sir?" Payback asks. "Or else I shoot back." I listened through the radio. "If I shoot either one of you down,you both lose. So cover your wing-man." He says. Hangman says "Who does this guy think he is?" Pilot masks are off. Rooster cranes his neck warily in every direction. "Fanboy, you see him?" Fanboy cranes his neck to look around and looks down at the radar. "No, nothing yet. Nothing on radar.He must be somewhere behind us." "Two versus one? He's gotta be kidding." "I know, right." "He is not kidding, Payback." "Sir, what say we put some skin in the game?" "What do you have in mind?" "How about this, Sir? First one to get shot down does two hundred push-ups." "That's a lotta push-ups." Maverick replied. "They don't call it an exercise for nothing, Sir."  "All right. That's a deal.You ready to go? Fight's on." I listen the whole time trying figure out Maverick's strategy. Eventually I heard him say "Head back to base, Rooster.See Hondo about your push-ups."  The class waits in silence. Phoenix stares out the window,Hangman paces. "Harvard, Yale... You're up." Maverick says through the radio.They nod to one another, psyche themselves up. Rooster is sitting next to me. "What did he do to you?" I asked. "Pulled my papers." I sympathized him. "He was my Uncle. Then Dad died. He left me and pulled my papers. Sent me back 5 years. Rooster nodded. Phoenix comes in at the other side of the room.  "Hey, you good?" I nod rather than speaking. "Phoenix, Bob, Hangman. Your turn." Maverick says through the radio. They head out and i listen intently. I whisper to the radio "Watch your back, Fee." I sit at the table. Hondo enters. "Jaguar, Rookie, Hangman. Your presence is requested." We look at one another. 

Hangman and I are head-to-head with Maverick. Both men are tense, eyes peeled. There's a shark in the water. And they're lunch. I'm looking down. "Nothing on the radar. Again." Hangman says. "He'll be coming low to high." I reply. Hangman is looking back. "I'm guessing from behind." "Or both." I respond. Rookie says from behind me. "Jaguar. Make sure you stay cool." "I'm always cool, Rookie." I reply. He laughs. "That was some shit you pulled on Phoenix." I said to Hangman. "I just hastened the inevitable.Besides, I paid for it, didn't I?" "That's not the point. Where the hell is he?" I say back. "Right here." Maverick says. Rooster and Hangman instinctively look back and down. I look down to my right. Nothing. I look down to my left and I'm shocked to see the tip of Maverick's wing. He's underneath us. In the next instant he rolls ans splits from below. Hangman rolls away. Maverick rolls on top of me. "You boys need to focus." He says. Then to me "You ready?" "Fight's on." I reply. Rooster turns on his tables an inverts Maverick does the same. Their planes begin falling towards Earth, each trying to out-spiral one another. The Gs are intense, the world spinning, a test of endurance. "Not this time, Captain." I say "Show me what you got." He replies. As we continue to fall. Hangman chases us, unable to make a shot at the two tangling airplanes. Rookie says "The agreed upon hard deck is five thousand feet!"  "You're running out of room!" Rookie yells to me. The verbal altimeter is calling out the altitude as we plummet. "What are you gonna do Jaguar?What's your move?" "What does it matter? You're gonna wash me out anyhow." "Washing out is entirely up to you." "That wasn't always the case,though, was it, Sir?" I replied "What's past is past, Jaguar. Focus on the enemy up here." "You are the enemy. We strain as we plummet and spiral. "Well, the enemy's about to run you into the ground." Hangman says to himself over the radio. "These guys are crazy." the spiral continues, the ground coming up fast. I look at my altimeters dropping rapidly. "Copy. Continue. Bail out anytime, Jaguar." "I can go as low as you, sir. And that's saying something." I replied angrily. The world below us is spinning wildly, coming up fast.Finally we both pull up coming dangerously close to the ground. Maverick nods approvingly. "Jaguar, you got him. You got him. drop down and take the shot. Take it. Take it." Maverick levels out, strikes with a cobra maneuver, forcing Hangman and I to split and overshoot him. Maverick is instantly in chase position for a shot of his own. I hear the tone. "That's a kill." he says. "Copy kill." I reply.

I'm sweating and furious. I punish myself by doing push-ups on the tarmac. "Alright. That's enough man. Jaguar, that's enough." Hondo pats me Rooster on the shoulder. "Tomorrow's another day." I sit up, exhausted. Feet appear next to me. I look up to see Phoenix above me. "What is going on with you? You trying to get kicked out? Breaking the hard deck. Insubordination.That wasn't you up there. Talk tome. What's up?" "I'm surprised you care." I replied. She winced at this comment. "I care because... because you're not the ass you used to be. you've changed, for the better." "Don't worry about it." I replied "I'm going on this mission.But if you get kicked out, you could leave us flying with Hangman.So what the hell was that?" I sighed. "He pulled my papers. My Mum was sick. Dad died and he wasn't there." "What? Who?"  "Maverick. He pulled my application to the Naval academy. He set me back five years. Then my mother became sick. I couldn't take care of her. Maverick promised my Dad he would help. Then my Dad died. And Maverick was nowhere to be seen." Phoenix processes. "I'm sorry." She replied putting a hand on my shoulder. he then walked away. 

3rd Person P.O.V

Hangman is staring at something on the wall. "Yo, Coyote." Coyote walks over and follows Hangman's eyes to a photo from the CLASS OF '86. Young Maverick, with Goose beside him. "The man, the legend. There he is..." But Hangman is looking at something else. He points to a man near the edge. "No, this guy. Does he look familiar to you?" Coyote looks closer. "What have we here?" Hangman reads the names under the photo: "Bill (Cougar) Cortell and his RIO Sam (Merlin) Wells."