Little Bird

13

Nic's PoV

The next morning we are met with Admiral Bates at the front of the briefing room with a hard look on his face.

"Good morning. The uranium enrichment plant that is your target will be operational earlier than expected. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days time. As a result your mission has been moved up one week, in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation."

The room is silent.

Payback is the only one who speaks up, "Sir, no one has successfully flown the low-level course."

Bates looks almost apologetic, "Nevertheless, you have been ordered to move on. Captain." He steps aside and Maverick takes his place.

"We have one week left to focus on phase two. It's the most difficult stage of the mission." Maverick

I turn slightly and make eye contact with Bob, thinking about our conversation the night before. He tries to give me a reassuring smile but he also looks pale at the news.

"It's a pop up strike with a steep dive, requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles. Two pairs of F-18's will fly in a welded wing formation. Teamwork. Precise coordination of these aircrafts are essential to both the mission's success and your survival." Maverick pauses looking around the room before turning to face the board, which now has phase twos simulation pulled up.

"As you know the plant rests between two mountains. On final approach you'll invert into a steep dive. This allows you to maintain the lowest possible altitude and the only possible attack angle. Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide. The two-seat aircraft will paint the target with a laser bulls-eye. The first pair will breach the reactor by dropping a laser guided bomb on the exposed ventilation hatch. This will create an opening for the second pair. That's miracle number one."

I have gripped the arm rests of my chair so tight my knuckles have turned white. Bob reaches over to grab hold of my hand as Maverick continues.

"The second team will deliver the kill shot and destroy the target. That's miracle number two. If either team misses the target, the mission is a failure." Mav again pauses, as if to let us all digest the insane information he is giving us. I turn around to look at Rooster, terrified that this is a suicide mission for the pilots and WSO's that will be chosen.

"Egress is a steep high-G climb out to avoid hitting the mountain." Maverick starts again.

"A steep climb at that speed, you're pulling at least 8 Gs." Hangman chimes in.

"Nine. Minimum." Maverick corrects.

"That stress limit for an F-18's airframe is 7.5." Rooster chirps.

"That's the accepted limit. To survive this mission, you'll pull beyond that. Even if it means bending your airframe." Maverick says looking directly at Rooster.

I turn and look toward Cyclone hoping this is all some elaborate prank they are pulling on us, but when I see him he looks slightly pale and refuses to look at any of us.

"You'll be pulling so hard you'll weigh close to 2,000lbs, your skull crushing your spine. Your lungs imploding like an elephant is sitting on your chest, fighting with everything you have just to keep from blacking out. This is where you'll be most vulnerable. This is coffin corner."

I can feel myself really start to panic now. I know that every mission we are given has a chance of ending with a fatality, this one seems to only have one ending, death.