Thistle ~ Bradley Rooster Bradshaw

Six

Day two;

This morning the aviators had all been sat in front of a large screen while Maverick had explained what was to go down.

Phoenix and Bob sat in the front two seats of the right row, with Rooster and Thistle behind. Hangman sat alone in the front row of the left side with Coyote behind alone and fanboy and payback third row back.

Lucille and Bradley hadn't looked at each other, even being sat beside each other, no words or glances passed. Nothing. Lucille intently listened to Maverick, while Bradley heard what he was saying but tried to avoid his gaze as much as possible.

"This will be a mission like no other that any of you have flown" Mav to a look at the faces of the aviators before him, trying to gage their reaction to his words, the screen behind him showing the course, highlighting all the enemy SAM's in red, with a red border around the top of the course, the red line they couldn't cross. "This mission will be flown at 660 knots minimum"

Lucille sat up straighter after he spoke. Roosters eyes finally landing on mavericks person.

"You will have a hard deck of 100," he paused, everyone's eyes widening, "a maximum of 100" Bob and Phoenix gave each other a bewildering look.

Maverick stood still, "it will be flown within 2 minutes and 30 seconds" he looked directly at Thistle, "time is your greatest adversary"

"That's impossible" payback muttered from the side.

Lucille turned her head to look at Rooster. He had briefly muttered something about no one being stupid enough to fly below the enemy radar and here we were. Having to fly at a max 100 altitude.

"You will have a steep climb and drop in between the two mountains where the nuclear enrichment facility lies, a ventilation sits above to protect it" he pushed a button, the screen behind him changing to the simulation of the uranium enrichment facility sat. Lucille sat forward. "In pairs we will need to pull off two consecutive miracles"

"Miracle puts it lightly" Lucille finally spoke up.

"The first pair will aim to destroy the ventilation system," he paused allowing his pilots to watch as the exact process was shown on the screen before them, "that's miracle number one"

Lucille pinched the bridge of her nose at the thought of this, she knew it was dangerous, they always had been, but this? This was different.

"The second pair will aim and drop into the gap made from the first teams hit, and take out the whole facility" he turned to watch the screen which demonstrated the game plan, "that's miracle number two" He stood back, "then you'll reach coffin corner where you'll be fired upon while your body feels like it's been crushed by the climb, when you're in your most vulnerable state"

Rooster briefly glanced at Thistle who sat up straight, staring ahead at maverick as he spoke, eyes slightly widened, lips slightly parted. He watched once as her chest rose and fell. Her breathing was deep, she was worried about pulling this off.

"Today we will simulate the course, sending you out in pairs" his eyes roamed the pilots. "We will go easy on you, you'll have 3 minutes to pull this off"

Coyote was the leader of the first group with Phoenix and Bob as his duo. The pilots watched from the screen as they went around the course. Lucille entirely focused on this, for the first time, she wondered if she'd survive a mission. Sure everything she's called for had risks, but not as many as this had.