Emerson Blackwood and Skye Kazansky had dreamed of becoming pilots for as long as they could remember.
Through an extensive amount of training at the Naval Academy and flight school, the two best friends had easily become some of the best Naval Avia...
"Sir, is this even achievable?" Natasha asked, her tone showing a hint of minor defeat.
"The answer to that question will come down to the pilot in the box."
Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
The first group in the air was Jake, Reuben and Mickey as team Alpha with Bradley, Natasha and Bob as team Beta; both teams being unsuccessful with their shots.
The second team was Billy, Logan and Brigham as team Alpha with Javy, Emerson and Skye as team Beta.
Billy, Logan and Brigham had missed their target which left Javy, Emerson and Skye to deliver the 'kill shot'.
"I'm picking up something on the radar." Skye announced as she stared at her radar before her eyes darted around the sky. "Who the hell is that?"
"Blue team, you've been spotted." Pete's voice echoed to them over coms.
"Shit, it's Maverick." Javy said.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Emerson muttered.
"I'm a bandit on course to intercept." The Captain stated, answering his daughter's question. "Blue team, what are you gonna do?"
"Twenty miles left, ten o'clock, seven hundred knots closure." Skye announced.
"Your call, what do you want to do?" Javy said, glancing over at the brunette pilot flying slightly behind him.
Emerson clenched her jaw. "Continue." She instructed. "We're close."
"He's swinging around north." The blonde WSO announced as she kept her eye on her uncle's incoming plane.
"Stand-by for pop-up." Javy stated.
"Be ready on that laser, Siren." Emerson instructed, glancing slightly over her shoulder.
"On it." Skye responded as she readied the F18's laser.
"Blue team, bandit is still closing." Pete warned.
"Popping now!" Javy exclaimed and pulled his F18 up with Emerson following his lead as they soon inverted their aircraft upon reaching 'the top of the mountain' in their simulation. "Talk to me, Siren, where's Maverick?"
"Five miles out, coming fast." Skye answered, her green gaze locked on the radar.
The two pairs of F18s soon leveled out, and their eyes landed on their target.
"Target's in sight." The brunette announced.
"Where's my laser, Siren?" The single-seater pilot questioned.
"Shit, deadeye." The blonde responded. "I can't get a lock."
"We're running out of time." Javy stated. "I'm dropping blind."
With that, the female aviators watched as he released the missile towards their target but had unfortunately missed, which meant that they, too, were unsuccessful.
"Damn it, missed!" Javy muttered and pulled his F18 up for their steep climb out.
Emerson grunted in her seat as she felt the immense pressure of her pulling Gs and was soon when with the constant ringing of being caught in missile-lock entering their cockpit.
"That's tone." Pete said.
"Shit, Maverick's got missile lock on us." Skye muttered with a sigh
"Oh shit, we're dead." Emerson sighed and leveled out the aircraft.
"Blue team, that's a fail." Pete stated and noticed that Javy was still climbing. "Level out, Coyote."
But there was no response from the pilot.
"Coyote, do you copy?" The Captain questioned as Emerson and Skye glanced back only to watch as Javy's plane started to spin as Pete tried to get through to him.
"Oh, God.." The brunette whispered at the sight.
"He's in G-Lock." Pete stated with concern. "Coyote? Coyote!"
"He's gonna burn in." Emerson said, glancing towards her father's plane.
"I'm going after him." Her father announced and dove his aircraft after Javy's.
Emerson tilted her plane slightly as both her and Skye watched the scene with concern as a constant ringing began echoing over coms - Pete getting Javy into missile-lock in attempt to wake him and pull him out of G-Lock.
"Come on, Coyote." Pete muttered. "Come on, Coyote!"
All of a sudden, Javy had pulled his plane up and leveled out, putting an ease to the aviators' nerves.
"Coyote, you okay?" Pete asked.
"I'm okay." Javy responded, slightly out of breath. "I'm good."
"Good, good.." The Captain nodded his head slightly. "That's enough for today."
Emerson pulled up beside her father and glanced over at him. "Well, that was close." She said.
Pete shook his head with a soft sigh. "Too close." He replied.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud against his canopy. "Bird strike." He announced as a flock of birds flew past them. "Bird strike! Bird strike!"
"Bird strike!" Emerson repeated as an alarm blared throughout her cockpit, her brown eyes falling onto her instrument panel to find that her left engine was on fire.
"Deathwing, left engine is on fire." Skye announced as she saw smoke in the air coming from their plane, her voice calm and cool under pressure much like her father.
"Climbing." Emerson stated and pulled the joystick, pulling the F18 up in altitude before she jumped into action. "Throttling back, shutting fuel off to left engine, extinguishing fire."
The blonde's gaze fell to an alert on her own instrument panel. "Right engine is out." She announced.
"It's still spinning." The brunette replied as her hands fell to the various switches in the cockpit. "Trying to restart it."
"Deathwing, it's on fire!" Pete exclaimed, his brown eyes filled with worry for his daughter and his best friend's daughter. "Don't restart it."
"Throttling up." Emerson stated and pulled the throttle, but as she had done this, the F18 took a steep turn towards the ground and had begun to spiral.
"Oh my God.." Pete whispered as fear overcame his body.
"We're on fire." Skye announced, her voice still calm despite the fear that washed over her.
"Dammit!" Emerson gritted out as the alert went off on her instrument panel before she pressed the extinguishing button. "Extinguishing the right engine."
But it was to no avail as the F18 had continued its spiral towards the ground.
"Deathwing, Siren, punch out!" Pete instructed worriedly as he flew after them. "Punch out!"
"Warning lights everywhere." The blonde said. "We've got hydraulic failure."
"I can't control it." The brunette stated as she tried to regain control over her spinning aircraft.
"You can't save it!" Pete yelled as his daughter and niece were heading closer towards the ground, the unrelenting fear increasing over him. "Eject! Eject!"
"Eject, eject, eject!" Emerson instructed.
With that, both girls pulled the ejection handle below their seats, and the canopy flew off - their seats ejecting just mere seconds before their plane had crashed into the ground.
