Atlas: A Top Gun: Maverick Fanfiction

Chapter 20: First Day Jitters

A/N: How was everyone's holiday? I hope it was great....i had the flu lol. Anyways, have a chapter and as always, let me know what you think!

Bright and early came far too bright and early for everyone involved. That included both Jake and Bradley. Cyclone and Warlock walked onto deck, a presence of grave importance as they stopped to look at the pilots.

"Morning. Welcome to your special training detachment. I'm Admiral Bates, nautic commander. You're all Top Gun graduates, the elite. The best of the best. That was yesterday. The enemy's new 5th generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Details are few, but you can be sure that we no longer possess the technological advantage." Warlock began. "Success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box." Warlock continued.

Jake couldn't help but glance with a smirk over at Phoenix—earning him a sly middle finger. "Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader. The other half will remain in reserve. Your instructor is a Top Gun graduate with real-world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary."

As footsteps sounded, everyone couldn't help themselves from glancing behind at the approaching pilot—and for Bradley Bradshaw, he felt his blood turn to literal ice as he sat there.

Maverick—Uncle Pete as Kelsey called him—was walking up the aisle and Bradley tuned everything out that Warlock was continuing to say. Because of course Iceman would assign him and Pete to the same sort of mission—

Friggin' typical, that's what this bullshit was.

But Pete had his own worries—namely the fact that he was fairly certain Jake and Bradley were unaware of their soon to be brother-in-law relationship. And then there was the fact that he had only talked to Jake over the phone once—and that was when Kelsey and him had gotten engaged.

So yeah—this was a right mess and he was the only person in the room acutely aware of it.

Awkward smiles from several pilots who had helped throw him out the night before and Pete was off. He held up the manual, gesturing at it. "The f-18 natops. It contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft. I'm assuming you know the book, inside and out."

"Damn right!" Payback piped up, creating a chorus of agreement throughout the pilots.

Promptly throwing the manual into the garbage can, Pete just grinned at them. "So does your enemy. But what the enemy doesn't know is your limits. I intend to find them. I intend to find them, test them, push beyond. Today we'll start with what you only think you know. Show me what you're made of."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch with Penny and Amelia was entirely wonderful for Kelsey. It had been so long since she had seen either one of them in person, and truth be told, they rather liked each other much more than they liked Pete half of the time.

Penny just sipped on her drink, leaning back in her chair as she shook her head. "I can't believe Ice thought that it would be a good idea for any of you all to get together again."

Kelsey just gave a roll of her eyes. "Well he's a sap for happy endings, anyway. I take it Uncle Pete already tried to hit on you?"

This time, Penny rolled her eyes. "He only has the one expression."

"And you fall for it every time," Amelia mumbled, munching on a fry.

At that, Kelsey grinned widely and stole one of her fries. "Well he is kinda charming and annoying. But Penny's smart."