i woke up to the sound of a phone alarm. i did not want to go to work today, not for any reason in particular i was just tired.
"gooodning baby" bradley's walked out of the bathroom and kissed me on the head. "get up we have to go to work in half an hour"
"ughhh i don't want to" i groaned and pulled the cover over my head.
"tough. you have too" bradley pulled the covers off of me and i lay on the bed freezing. i took off the pants half way through the night because it got to warm , i was left with my black shirt still on with red lacey underwear.
"fine i'll get up" i stood up quickly and slammed the door to the bathroom.
bradley's pov
she'd been in the bathroom for 20 minutes now. so i knock on the door
"babe phoenix is leaving in 5" she quickly walked back out of the bathroom wearing a pair of very short shorts and and white cropped shirt. "you look hot now cmon let's go."
ELENAS POV
"Time is your greatest enemy." maverick paced down the isle between the chairs. "Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two-plane teams. You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar-guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area." he stopped back at the front and turned to the screen behind him
"These sams, they're lethal. But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below."
"That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them." bradley pointed out
"That's exactly what I'm gonna train you to do. On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum. You exceed this altitude..."
the radar on the screen made a beeping sound "Radar will spot you and you're dead."
"Your airspeed will be 660 knots minimum. Time to target: Two and a half minutes. That's because fifth-generation fighters wait at an air base nearby. In a head-to-head with these planes in your f-18s, you're dead. That's why you need to get in, hit your target and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest adversary. You'll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon. The faster you navigate this canyon, the harder it'll be to stay under the radar of these enemy sams."
The tighter the turns, the more intensely the force of gravity on your body multiplies...
"Compressing your lungs...
Forcing the blood from your brain...
Impairing your judgment and reaction time." his voice started to sound like something from a horror movie. this is a suicide mission.
"So for today's lesson, we're gonna take it easy on you." his voice cheered up a bit "Max ceiling: 300 feet. Time to target: Three minutes....
Good luck."
up first was bob phoenix and me.
"Time to target is one minute 30." bob spoke.
"We are two seconds behind. Increase to 480 knots." i spoke to phoenix and bob.
"Copy. Increasing speed."
"Oh, shit!"
beeping came from phoenixes controls.
"Why are they dead?" mav asked me.
"i slowed down."
"no matrix why are they dead?" he asked again more using a more demanding tone this time. "One that their family will accept at the funeral." god he is a piece of work.
"i didn't anticipate the turn and i slowed down without warning them"
"Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were briefed on the terrain."
"sir i-" i tried to defend myself but he cut me off.
"Don't tell me. Tell it to his family." he pointed over at bob, i looked in his direction and he looked just as annoyed as i did.
hangman payback and fanboy where next.
"Hangman, ease up. The canyon's getting tighter."
"Negative, payback. Increase your speed."
"You're going too fast, man. No harm in being ahead of schedule."
"Damn it, slow down! I can't stay on the course!"
"You're gonna hit the wall! Watch out! Watch out!"
paybacks radar beeped.
"What happened?" maverick asked the same question.
"I flew as fast as I could." hangman's cocky ass voice spoke. "Kind of like my ass depended on it."
"And you put your team in danger, and your wing man's dead."
"They couldn't keep up."
yale and rooster went next.
"Rooster, we're 20 seconds behind and dropping." yale warned him
"We're fine. Speed is good."
"Increase to 500 knots." yale demanded
"Negative, Yale. Hold your speed." rooster knew what he was doing.
"Rooster, we're late!"
"We're alive. We'll make up time in the straightaway."
"We are not gonna make it."
"Just trust me. Maintain your speed. We can make it." and they did make it. just not in time.
"Why are you dead?" maverick asked again "You're team leader up there. Why are you, why is your team dead?"
"Sir, he's the only one who made it to the target." i defended rooster
"A minute late. He gave enemy aircraft time to shoot him down.He is dead. "
"You don't know that." rooster spat
"You're not flying fast enough. You don't have a second to waste." hangman butted in
"We made it to the target." bradley leaned forward in his seat becoming increasingly annoyed.
"And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out."
"Then it's a dogfight."
"Against fifth-generation fighters."
"Yeah. We'd still have a chance."
"In an F-18." maverick raised a brow.
"It's not the plane, sir, it's the pilot."
"Exactly!" maverick clapped his hands together. "There's more than one way to fly this mission."
"You really don't get it." hangman scoffed "On this mission, a man flies like Maverick here, or a man does not come back." he looked over to me and phoenix. dickhead "No offense intended."
"Yet somehow you always manage." bob rolled his eyes.
"We're going into combat, son, on a level no living pilot's ever seen." hangman paused and gestures towards maverick "Not even him.....That's no time to be thinking about the past."
"What's that supposed to mean?" shit.
"I can't be the only one that knows that Maverick flew with his old man."
"That's enough. " maverick almost yelled.
"Or that Maverick was flying when his old man..."
before hangman could finish his sentence bradley threw himself at him punching him in the face and tackling him to the ground.
eveyone went to separate the two
"bradley stop" i put one hand on his chest and the other stroking his face. "look at me"
he looked down at me. "don't let him get to you, he's a self centered dick who needs a major ego check"
"He's not cut out f-" hangman tried to speak but was interrupted by the doors flying open, an admiral, that nobody recognised, walked in with cyclone.
"lieutenant moretti." cyclone looked to me.
"we're going to need you to come with us"
"what it about?" i ask.
"we will tell you, please come" the other admiral spoke.
"lieutenant. you are aware of the mission your brother went on a couple weeks ago?" oh my god. no. this can't be what i think it is. is he hurt? is he okay? is he..dead?
"um yes.. yes i am why?"
"we are so sorry..."
"no.." i sobbed. "no no please don't."
"lieutenant, i assure you we did everything we could to save him. i am so sorry." the other admiral put his hand on my shoulder
"no... no he's not dead no. get off of me!" i screamed and broke down
BRADLEYS POV
elena went out with them. i tried looking through the glass in the doors to see if i could see her. nothing.
then we all heard an ear piercing scream come from the hall, i didnt waste a second and jumped from my seat to run out the door.
she was sat on the floor with her head in her hands sobbing and yelling at the admirals to leave. i looked at them both and nodded indicating them to leave.
"elena what happened" i sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her shaking body. god it broke me seeing her like this.
"he's dead." who?
"who's dead baby?"
"my brother..he's dead."
you didn't really get to see much of her brother but they where really close that's why she was so upset.
i'm so excited for the next chapter!
it's a funeral so that sounds bad but there's dramaaa.
i went back to school today 😪