G Force

Bar

Speed.

Something that no one can truly describe. Excitement, terror, amazement, none of these words can come close to how it truly feels to go fast.

Now I'm not talking the top speed on your average car, which is 249mph tops, give or take. I'm talking tops speeds of 6,732mph. That, mixed with being around young people in the prime of their life's and probably the best physical shape a human being can be in without taking steroids or messing with your body chemistry, makes for some interesting relationships. Like the relationship between my pilot and I, Bradly Bradshaw, aka Rooster, he always called me Bambi. After meeting shortly after we graduated and pairing up, the two of us seemed unstoppable and we were.

Which is why it came as no surprise when we were both invited to take part in training for a special mission, they had invite the top of the different Top Gun squadrons. The program itself was designed to being the best of the best together, to not only put them against each other, but make them work together as a team as well. The idea came from the thought that you put the best of the best against each other, it will make them better. Now I guess they are taking it a step further.

Rooster's father was a pilot himself and one of the original Top Gun pilots, he went by the callsign Goose, but he has killed in action. It's something that Rooster doesn't like to talk about, and I understand. Speed comes naturally to me too, my father is former NASCAR driver Terry Labonte, who won the Cup Championship in 1984. My Father always brags that he has 105 top five finishes, despite having only 10 wins. He wasn't sure what to think when I told him I wanted to become a fighter pilot. I think with all the wrecks he had seen in his career, including loosing a fellow racer Dale Earnhardt Sr, in 2001, made him all the more worried about me even driving a car let alone going over 6,000mph in the air. Even thought he wasn't thrilled about the idea, he was always supportive of my dreams. Although he would have been happy if I just wanted to be a housewife.

When we get to our post we are told we are to meet the other recruits in the local bar. Post is a bit of a stretch since Rooster and I have been in the area since before we signed up, Rooster for most of his life. We pull up in his old truck before we get hop out, I call out to Rooster as I come around the truck, "do you think we should keep this on the down low?"

"Keep what on the down low?"

"You know, this," I chuckle as Rooster wraps an arm around my shoulders and I take his hand.

"I mean, we can if you want, but I don't intend on sleeping around with anyone else, do you?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh, I know what you meant. You honestly think no other officer in there has hooked up with another pilot or their navigator? Huh?" I shake my head as Rooster looks over to me. "The only difference is I know damn well that none of them has been with someone who is a navigator and a pilot."

I laugh as Rooster pulls me in and kisses me, his mustache tickling my nose, "stop it," I giggle.

"And that, my dear Bambi, is why I intend on making it very clear to everyone who's bed I put my boots under."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

I laugh and shake my head as the two of us head into the bar. It doesn't take us long to find the other pilots and navigators. Although it seems Rooster and I missed the memo to come in our uniforms. Rooster is in a tank and Hawaiian shirt and I am in tank and baseball jersey, both of us in light wash jeans. As we walk into the bar we hear Natasha Trace, aka Phoenix, "Bradshaw! Labonte! Is that you?" The two of us walk over to the group, all gathered around a pool table, "this is how I find out the two of you are stateside?"

"Yeah," Rooster shrugs, "just thought we'd surprise you."

As we walk around the pool table someone else who looks Rooster up and down, "Bradshaw, as I live and breathe." It's Jake Seresin, aka Hangman, he and Rooster have a bit of a past.

"Hangman, you look... good."

"Well, I am good Rooster. I am very good." Now Hangman is not someone that I know myself but I have heard of, extensively. He and Rooster graduated together, while Phoenix and I were about a year behind. "In fact, I am too good to be true. The same can't be said for your date. By the way, I didn't know we were allowed to bring our girlfriends to this thing."

Phoenix chuckles a bit, "please, she could fly circles around you."

"Really?" Hangman clears his throat, "I'm sorry to say but she doesn't look like much of a pilot to me, maybe a bit too on the uhh.... heavy side."

I take a deep breath as Hangman takes a crack at my size. I am not overweight or obese by any means, but being a very muscular woman, it is easy to be mistaken as someone who is a little unhealthy. Rooster steps in front of me and toward Hangman a bit, as if what he said are fighting words, "she could bench you, without a problem."

"So..." one of the other officers tries to change the subject, "anybody know what this special detachment is all about?"

"No, mission's a mission. They don't confront me." Hangman leans over to take his turn in the game of pool, "what I want to know: who's gonna be team leader?" The balls clatter as Hangman shots and he stands, "and which of you has what it takes to follow me?"

Rooster looks down, "Hangman, the only place you'll lead anyone is an early grave."

Hangman slows walks around the table, "well, anyone who follows you is just gonna run out of fuel. But that's just you, ain't it, Rooster? You're snug on that perch, waiting for just the right moment... that never comes." The two stare each other down, while Hangman smiles, he had put on the song Slow Ride when we came into the bar, "I love his song."

As Hangman walks off, Phoenix comes up to the two of us, "well, he hasn't changed."

"Nope, sure hasn't," Rooster sighs.

I shake my head, "makes me glad I never worked with him."

"Trust me," Phoenix scoffs, "you aren't missing much." Rooster walks away, leaving me with Phoenix and the others. I take a deep breath and Phoenix nudges me, "hey, don't let Hangman get to you. He doesn't know what kind of rock hard body is under that baggy jersey."

"Check it out," one of the other officers comes up, "more patches."

Another man stands, "that's Harvard, Yale, Omaha. Shit, that's Fritz."

"Oh, I'm Fanboy, by the way," the first man extends a hand.

"And I'm Payback."

I smile and shake their hands, "Bambi."

"Is that your real name or your callsign."

"Callsign." I take a deep breath and look around, realizing that I have heard all these names as those that are thought to be the best of the best. "What the hell kind of mission is this?"

"That's not the question we should be asking," Phoenix shakes her head, "everyone here is the best there is. Who the hell are they gonna get to teach us?"

Soon the music stop and the crowd protests. But then I hear someone warming up on the piano, and there is only one man that I know who would play in front of a bunch of people in a bar. I walk over to Rooster, who is sitting at the piano and starts to play some jazz. Soon we are joined by Phoenix, Fanboy, Payback, and a man I have heard someone refer to as Bob. Everyone cheers when we hear the bell ring. When Ms Penny rings the bell it means someone can't pay their tab and they have to be thrown out of the bar. All at once all the customers start to chant, "overboard! Overboard! Overboard!" Hangman, Payback and Fanboy take the liberty of throwing the man out of the bar.

Once the crowd simmers down, Rooster shouts, "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain!" Playing the song 'Great Balls of Fire,' as he shouts the first lines of the song. I chuckle a bit and join in with him, "too much love drives a man insane. You broke my will but what a thrill. Goodness gracious great balls of fire!"