My Boyfriend's a Fighter Pilot (And So Am I)

Chapter 3

"Time is your greatest enemy," Mav said as he began his speech. I watched as the screen behind him began to change, showing a new flying course that was designed for us, while my uncle began to explain his seemingly impossible requirements for us to complete this mission.

"These SAMs, they're lethal. But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyons below." Mav said as everyone began to understand what he meant.

"That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them." Rooster shot back as I lightly shook my head. Classic Maverick. I thought to myself as I took a deep breath. Everyone began to exchange sighs and bewildered looks as Maverick elaborated on our speed, hard deck, and how long we had to complete the mission. We were dismissed, and everyone immediately began letting out quiet remarks on how this was going to be impossible. Bob, Raven, and Coyote were up first, and the rest of us waited anxiously for our turns as we listened to the coms over the radio.

"Why are they dead?" Mav asked Coyote as Raven responded.

"We broke the 300-foot ceiling and a SAM took us out," Nat said.

"No. Why are they dead?" Mav asked again as he stared directly at Coyote. Looks like Mav has decided to kick the heat up quite a bit. I thought as I twirled a pen in my fingers. Next up to fly was Hangman, Payback, and Fanboy. Within a good couple of seconds, they were out and we were back in the briefing room.

"What happened?" Maverick asked Hangman. Hangman just put on his usual cocky smirk and said "I flew as fast as I could. Kind of like my ass depended on it."

"And you put your team in danger, and your wingman's dead." Rooster retorted as he cooly stared at Hangman.

"They couldn't keep up," Hangman said with arrogance. We were dismissed again, and then it was me, Halo, and Omaha's turn. I had never flown with them in a small group before, but I had faith that they knew what was up.

"Good luck," I told them before I hopped into the cockpit. I strapped my helmet on and mask then was given the signal to take off.

"Starting timer in three, two, one!" Halo said as I immediately increased speed. I began to suck in as much air as I could since the turns were becoming sharper and the speed was increasing.

"Ah!" Yale gasped as he struggled to breathe as well.

"One minute left Phoenix! Increase speed to 550!" Halo yelled over the comms.

"Increasing speed!" I said as I pushed the lever forward.

"You're almost there, Phoenix, but can you handle the sharp turns near the end of the target?" My uncle said through the coms. I began gasping for air throughout the rough turns and had to blink a couple of times rapidly to keep my vision as best as I could.

"Almost there!" I yelled as I saw the target up ahead.

"10 seconds left!" Halo yelled back. "9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, we made it!" She yelled.

"Congrats guys, you can head back to land," Maverick said. I picked up the tone of pride in his voice, as I breathed heavily.

"Heading back," I said through the coms as I turned my fighter jet around.

"Great work guys," I said when we were walking back in. Halo and Omaha acknowledged my comment, and I immediately got a drink of water as I walked into the hang-out room.

"Congrats on being the only one to make it to the target Phoe," Nat said as she gave me a small smile.

"Thanks, Rave. But for the record, that sucked like hell." I said as I flopped down into a chair.