The Danger Zone

Chapter 1

I woke to the first streams of warm, yellow day light, leaking through the window across from my bed. The California sun had just climbed its way into the sky, finding the small gap between my bedroom curtains. As I rolled over in my bed to get situated away from the sun, my eyes fell upon my alarm clock which sat on my bedside table amid my many snap shots of my twin brother and my other random junk. Suddenly, I sat upright in bed, immediately frustrated with myself. Dang it. I had slept through my alarm. Ughhhh... this was not the first time this had happened, but still, it was a bad thing for a naval aviator to sleep past alarms.

With a great amount of effort, I forced myself out of my warm bed and onto the cold floor, reaching for my robe the minuet my feet landed. Making my way across the room, I pulled open the curtains, revealing the morning sunrise out across the bay.

It truly was beautiful with the pink sun making its way higher into the sky, revealing rays of bright yellow sunshine, gleaming across the distant plain. But I didn't have time to admire its beauty much longer. I had places to be and things to do...unfortunately. After walking down the hall to the kitchen, I hastily pulled my hair into a messy high bun and prepared myself a breakfast consisting of an apple, two cups of coffee and a bowl of granola. Still eating, I made my way to the bathroom and began the process of pulling my wavy brown hair into a tighter low military bun.

Today was a big day. Or so I'd been told. I had glanced at my schedule only once the night before, and most of it had been the boring typical flight schedules. Except for one small little slot. And that slot had changed the entire course of my day.

I finished brushing out my hair and began twisting it into a low ponytail, just above the nape of my neck, being sure to pull back all the wispies, I secured it with gel. I hated gel, but it was mandatory to maintain a tight bun. Which was mandatory too maintain my status. Which was mandatory to continue my training. Which was mandatory to maintain my job. Which was mandatory to maintain everything I had built my life around, so gel it is.

Once my hair was in a bun, I finished my breakfast and headed back to my room where I began getting dressed in my uniform. Before long, I was dressed and ready with my hair up, my stomach satisfied and my mind...not at ease. But, I didn't have time to think about that. It was already 0610 and I had to be seated and ready to listen and fly by 0700.

Quickly, I grabbed my keys and headed down the stairs of my apartment to where my car was parked in the parking lot. Once I was seated and buckled, I began the quick drive to base. On the way, my mind began wandering again, as it often did when there was nothing to distract it.

I was nervous. Something I often tried to ignore. But this time, it felt.... different. I was genuinely nervous. Not just that oh no, I might die today kind of nervous. It was more of the oh no I might lose my job today kind. And my job was my life. It was all that I knew. All that I loved and certainly all that I was good at.

Today I had an FNAEB, Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board. In simpler terms, I was being evaluated to see if I can move on or if I have to go back to the academy. Or if I just have to be kicked out all together. My career all came down to this one performance. I had had FNAEB's before, but today was, in my opinion, one of the biggest things I'd ever done. Bigger than attending Top Gun at such a young age. Bigger than one on one training with my dad. Bigger than even my three missions.

Pulling into the parking lot at Base, I slid out of my car and walked into the building, going through all the security checks until finally, I found myself walking through hallways full of aviators, just like myself.

Except, I had no idea who they were and they obviously knew who I was. What can I say? I'm famous. Ish. More like my dads famous. You see, I am Katherine "Hornet" Mitchell. Commonly known as the daughter of Maverick. And believe me, no matter how hard I trie to make a name for myself, thats all that people remember. The daughter of the Maverick.