The night had continued on with Kara and Terence both finding themselves at the pool table.
A couple of rounds into their game, they were joined by another pilot and RIO who introduced themselves as Rick Neven and Leonard Wolfe - better known by their callsigns of Hollywood and Wolfman.
Kara took a liking to the two immediately as they, much like Terence, had no problem with a female pilot. In fact, they found her to be pretty badass.
They had wound up playing a round of pool together in a game of 2-versus-2. As to not have an unfair advantage, they had decided to switch up partners - with Leonard becoming Kara's partner while Terence had become Rick's.
A little while into the game, Kara had excused herself from the men and made her way towards the bar, placing her empty glass on the counter top.
"Can I get another Mermaid Mimosa, please?" She asked the bartender with a polite smile, only for him to nod and turn towards the spot beside her.
"Ice-water, please." A smooth voice spoke which caused the female pilot to turn, only to scoff softly to herself as she was met with, none other than, Tom Kazansky.
"I don't think we've formally introduced ourselves to each other." He said as he leaned against the bar.
"What makes you think I'd want to introduce myself to you?" She quizzed with a tilt of her head, her hazel eyes silently challenging him.
His icy blue eyes filled with amusement as a smirk glittered across his lips. "Tom Kazansky, but you can call me Iceman." He said. "And you are?"
He was persistent, Kara had to give him that - despite having her brother just introduce her to him earlier.
"Kara Bradshaw." She replied after a moment. "Ghost."
"Ghost." Tom repeated with a smile. "So, are you a RIO?"
"Pilot, actually." She corrected with a small smirk. "Neo's my RIO."
The ice-cold pilot's smile faltered slightly as he stared at the woman before him with an impressed look.
Before anything else could be said, their drinks had arrived with both pilots thanking the bartender with a smile before the woman took a sip of her mimosa.
Tom stared at her with interest and opened his mouth to speak when all of a sudden, the sound of someone singing had interrupted him.
Kara internally cringed as she closed her eyes with a groan. "You have got to be kidding me." She muttered.
"Hey, Kara, Nick and Pete are--"
"I know." The pilot said, cutting her RIO off with a scrunch of her nose as he had joined the duo at the bar.
"Those two are quite the characters, huh?" Tom stated as he watched the scene unfold.
"You have no idea." Kara mumbled as she watched her brother and the dark-haired pilot pull off one of their famous stunts by singing The Righteous Brothers' 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling'.
It wasn't that the pilot and RIO were terrible singers but bless their souls.
Soon enough, the entire bar had joined in on the pilot and RIO's antics, singing their hearts out at the chorus to which Kara had simply shook her head in disbelief.
All this just for Pete Mitchell to impress a girl he was after.
She truly pitied whoever she was.
She soon felt the heavy gaze of her older brother on her and locked eyes with him from within the crowd.
Tom noticed this and followed her gaze, only for him to turn back to her with a charming smile. "I'll see you later." He said and excused himself from the presence of the pilot and her RIO.
As Tom had disappeared into the crowd, Nick made his way over to the duo. "What was that about?" He asked.
Kara shrugged. "Nothing." She replied. "He just wanted to formally introduce himself."
Nick paused for a moment and exchanged a look with his sister's RIO. "Oh?" He quizzed before a teasing grin spread across their faces. "Sounds like he's got the hots for you, little sister."
"What?" The youngest Bradshaw questioned.
"You and Iceman." Terence said, his grin broadening. "Ghost and Iceman, sitting in a tree, k--"
Rolling her eyes, Kara had grabbed the piece of lime that had garnished her drink and shoved it into her RIO's mouth, which had put an end to his teasing.
"Why am I friends with you lot?" She muttered, grabbing her drink and walked away from her brother and friend, who simply laughed as they watched her disappear into the crowd.
The weekend seemed to have gone by way too fast for Kara's liking, and before she knew it, it was the official start of their training program.
The pilots and their RIOs were seated in a hangar, a blackboard positioned up front with four F-14s and an A-4 standing in the background.
"Now, you'll also be trained and evaluated by a few civilian specialists. The civilians are here because they are our very best source of information on enemy aircraft. One of our most qualified is our TAGREP, callsign Charlie." Jester explained in front of the class, leaning against a table as the clicking of heels could be heard, making their way down the aisle of Naval Aviators. "She has a Ph.D. in astrophysics, and she is also a civilian contractor, so you do not salute her. But you better listen to her because the Pentagon listens to her about your proficiency. It's all yours, Charlie."
"Thank you." A woman with short blonde hair replied and turned around to face the class with a professional smile, her eyes briefly landing on Kara before subtly nodding at her in respect.
"Hello." Charlie greeted, and that was when Kara had noticed the three shocked expressions belonging to her RIO, brother and friend.
"Oh, please, God, no." She mumbled with a soft groan as she slid down in her seat. "You idiots."
"We will be dealing with F-5s and A-4s as our MiG simulators. Now, then, as most of you know, the F-5 doesn't have the thrust-to-weight ratio that the MiG-28 has, and it doesn't bleed energy below 300 knots, like the MiG-28." The woman explained. "However, the MiG-28 does have a problem with its inverted flight tanks. It won't do a negative-G pushover. The latest intelligence.."
Kara exchanged a look with Terence, knowing full well that a certain dark-haired pilot would challenge that statement before she caught onto the whispers between her brother and his friend.
"Are you gonna tell her?" Nick whispered.
"Ten bucks that she calls my brother and Mav out." Kara whispered to Terence, which made him grin at his pilot.
"You're on." He replied and shook her hand, eagerly watching how this would play out.
".. tells us that the most it will do is one negative.." Charlie paused as her gaze settled on the dark-haired pilot. "Excuse me, Lieutenant. Is there something wrong?"
Kara smirked and held her hand out towards Terence, who simply grumbled under his breath as he took out his wallet.
"Yes, ma'am." Pete replied, confidence seeping into his tone, which grabbed everyone's attention. "The data on the MiG is inaccurate."
"And here we go." The younger Bradshaw sibling muttered under her breath.
"How's that, Lieutenant?" Charlie asked with an amused smile.
Pete sat up straight in his seat and took off his glasses. "Well, I just happened to see a MiG-28 do--"
"We." Nick interrupted his best friend, correcting him. "We."
"Sorry, Goose." Pete apologised, making Nick nod his head all while Kara and Terence smiled in amusement. "We happened to see a MiG-28 do a four-G negative dive."
Charlie's amused smile had not once faltered, though she did find this story hard to believe. "Where did you see this?" She asked.
"That's classified." Pete answered.
"It's what?" The instructor questioned with raised brows.
"It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." The pilot replied, eliciting soft laughter from the surrounding pilots and RIOs.
"Lieutenant, I have top-secret clearance." Charlie stated. "The Pentagon sees to it that I know more than you."
"Well, ma'am, it doesn't seem so in this case, now does it?" Pete questioned rhetorically.
"So, Lieutenant," Charlie began with a soft sigh, entertaining the pilot's story. "Where exactly were you?"
"Well, we.." Pete began and glanced at his RIO.
"Thank you." Nick nodded.
"Started up on his six when he pulled through the clouds, and then I moved directly above him." The pilot explained.
"Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?" Charlie quizzed with an amused smile.
"Because I was inverted." Pete replied confidently.
"Bullshit!" Tom coughed into his hand, eliciting chuckles from his RIO and fellow aviators around him, all while Kara bit back her amused smile.
"No, he was, man. It was really a great move. He was inverted." Nick said, backing up his pilot. "Ghost has done it plenty of times."
The aviators' gazes all fell towards the female pilot, who further slid down in her seat before she leaned forward and gave her older brother a pointed look.
"Thanks, Goose." She said sarcastically.
Charlie stared at Kara with a surprised expression, only becoming further impressed by her before she shifted her attention back onto the dark-haired pilot.
"You were in a four-G inverted dive with a MiG-28?" She asked with disbelief.
"Yes, ma'am." Pete answered proudly.
"At what range?" Charlie questioned.
"No. About two meters?" Pete asked as he looked at his RIO.
"Well, it was actually about one and a half, I think. It was one and a half." Nick said. "I've got a great polaroid of it."
"A great shot, too." Terence commented with a grin.
"Thanks, man, I really appreciate that." The eldest Bradshaw replied with a smile, as the youngest simply shook her head at the idiots that made up her brother and friends.
"Lieutenant." Charlie called, grabbing both pilot and RIO's attention. "What were you doing there?" She asked.
"Communicating." Nick answered as Pete cleared his throat with a nod of confirmation.
"Communicating. Keeping up foreign relations." Pete added. "I was, uh, you know, giving him the bird."
The instructor simply sighed softly as she stared at the two aviators.
"You know the finger." Nick said, throwing up his middle finger, which made Kara's eyes widen slightly as her jaw dropped all while Terence laughed softly beside her with a snort.
"Yes, I know the finger, Goose." Charlie said with a neutral expression.
"I'm sorry, I hate it when it does that." Nick apologised and hit his finger down. "I'm sorry."
A few pilots and RIOs had continued to chuckle at the eldest Bradshaw's antics as the youngest silently asked herself why she was related to him.
"Excuse me." Nick said softly and dropped his gaze back towards his notebook where he had been doodling on the page.
"So you're the one." Charlie stated, not once breaking eye contact with Pete.
"Yes, ma'am." Pete smirked with Kara groaning softly at the undeniable sexual tension between the dark-haired pilot and the TAGREP.
"Alright, lady and gentlemen. We have a hop to take." Jester announced. "The hard-deck on this hop will be ten thousand feet. There'll be no engagement below that."
Grabbing her book and pen with a soft sigh, Kara rose to her feet and soon felt a burning gaze on her. She glanced over her shoulder and was met with Tom staring at her with a smirk across his lips.
The blonde bit back a small smile and simply followed her brother and Pete down the aisle, which made the ice-cold pilot chuckle softly as he gathered his things together and followed his RIO towards the locker rooms.