ᵂᵉ'ʳᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵍᵒⁱⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᵐᵃᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵃᵐᵉ ᵐⁱˢᵗᵃᵏᵉ
Bambi couldn't stop thinking about the events that took place the night before. Moose and Phoenix nodded at each other, Bambi looked over at Rooster before looking out the window. "You have something on your mind?" Rooster asked. She made eye contact with him. "Last night was great Bradshaw." She said with a slight smile. He smiled back at her. Then the door opened, Maverick, Cyclone and Warlock walked in the room and made their way to the front of the room.
"The uranium enrichment plant will be operational earlier than expected. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days' time. As a result, the mission has moved up one week." Admiral Bates explained to everyone. Thumper and Moose looked at each other. "I be damn." Bambi muttered. "Sir, no one here has successfully flown a low-level course." Coyote stated. "Nevertheless, you've been ordered to move on." Admiral Bates responded before Maverick took his spot up front.
"We have one week left to focus on phase two; it is the most difficult stage of the mission. It's a pop-up strike with a deep dive requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles." Maverick said. A simulation appeared on the screen behind Maverick. It showed the inverted dive that two single and two double F-18s would be required to make to reach the target.
"Your target is an impact point less then three meters wide. The two-seat will mark the target with the laser bullseye. This will allow the single to drop a guided bomb into the reactor through an exposed ventilation hatch. This creates the opening the second pair. That's miracle number one. The second team will deliver the kill shot to destroy the target. That's miracle number two. If either team misses the target, the mission is a failure." Maverick explained.
The screen behind Maverick changed to display the required steep climb out of the mountain or as Maverick referred to it as Coffin Corner.
"A climb at that speed will have you pulling at least 8 Gs." Hangman guessed. "Nine, Minimum." Maverick responded. "The stress limit of an F-18 airframe is 7.5 Gs." Rooster noted.
"That is the accepted limit. To survive this mission, you will need to pull beyond that even if it means bending your airframe. You'll be pulling so hard, that you'll weigh close to two thousand pounds. Your skull will feel like it's crushing your spine and your lungs will implode like an elephant sitting on your chest, fighting with everything you have to keep from blacking out and this is where you'll be most vulnerable." Maverick explained. Bambi bit the inside of her cheek as she stared at the screen. Thumper sighed. "But by the looking of that slope we would need to pull about 10 gs?" Bambi questioned to herself.
"Assuming you avoid crashing into this mountain. You'll climb straight into enemy radar while losing all airspeed. Within seconds, you'll be fired upon by enemy SAMs. It'll be a dogfight all the way home." Maverick explained as he pointed to screen.
"This is going to take you and your aircraft to a breaking point." Maverick added. "Sir, is this achievable?" Phoenix asked, this was on everyone mind as well. "The answer to that question will come down to the pilot in the box." Maverick responded to her.
"Pilots, prepare for take for take off. You've been briefed on phase two, time to give it run." Admiral Simpson said to from the back. Everyone headed to the locker room. "Don't worry Bambi, we so got this." Thumper said. "Yeah." Bambi said as she got her gear on.
...........
Bambi, Thumper and Moose set out before Coyote, Phoenix and Bob. Nobody hasn't achieved the task at hand.
"Alright, Talk to me Thump, what's happening?" Moose asked Thumper. "It's Thumper, well we're are twelve seconds behind on target, we have to pick up the pace here." Thumper spatted. "Damn it to hell." Bambi mumbled. "Copy, Moose, you two try and stay with me." Bambi added.
"Wait wait wait... Who the hell is that?" Thumper calls out, pointing out on the radar. "Blue team, you've been spotted." Maverick's voice called out. Bambi became tense. "It's Maverick." Bambi tells both Moose and Thumper. "What the hell is he doing here?" Moose asked. "I'm a bandit on course to intercept." Maverick states. "Blue team, what are you going to do?" He asked them.
"Twenty miles left, Ten o' clock, 200 knots closure." Thumper warned them. "Your call, What do you want to do?" Moose looked over at Bambi for suggestion. "We should continue, we are close... Stay on target." Bambi replied. "He's swinging around to the north." Moose states as she keeps an eye on Maverick. "Standby for pop up." Bambi stated. "Be ready on that laser there, Thumper." Moose told Thumper. "Copy, On it!" Thumper replied.
"Blue team, Bandit is still closing." Maverick warns them. "POPPING NOW!" Bambi exclaimed pushing throttle to the max, pulling tight on the control stick. They inverted after five seconds of high-speed climbing, "Thumper, Where's Maverick?" Bambi asked. "He's five miles out. He's coming in quick." Thumper responded. They leveled out of the inversion, Bambi pull throttle back to MIL, making sure that they continued to lower their altitude, this making the bomb dropping easier.
"Target's in sight." Moose states. "Where's my laser Thumper?" Bambi asked as stress began to creep on her. They were getting close to the target quick. "Dead eye, Dead eye! It's no good! Sorry I can't get a lock." Thumper states as Bambi sighs. "I'm dropping blind as we are out of time." Bambi tells the pair. She presses the button that releases the missile and it misses by a long shot. "Damn it! That's a miss." Bambi said as they both prepare for the second and even steeper climb out.
Bambi pushed the throttle to max and with both hands bring the control stick as tightly as she could to her body. Her body tenses as the weigh of the G's hit her. Her muscles feel as they are pulling her body back to the ground. She struggles to breath as her lungs keep depressing without expanding Darkness starts to fill her vision. "Oh dear... no no no." She states as she fights it.
"That's tone." Maverick says as Storm heard the missile lock go off in Moose and Thumper's Cockpit. "Maverick's got a missile locked on us." Thumper states to Moose. "Shit! We're dead." Moose said as he pulled their plane down. Thumper looked at Bambi in concern as she didn't follow. "Bams?" Thumper questioned, Moose looked at Bambi's plane in concerned. "Blue team that's a fail, Level out there Bambi." Maverick said. Bambi felt the darkness taking over as she let go of everything. "Bambi!" Moose exclaimed as he and Thumper saw Bambi's plane come down. "Bambi Come in." Maverick called out to her and no response."Bambi, level out wings." Maverick called out and still no response.
"Ghost, Scoob and Valor, you three need to get out of there!" Maverick exclaimed. "Ghost!!!! We are in woozy!" Scoob exclaimed. "I know that but my wife is in G-LOC!" Ghost exclaimed back. "VALOR!"
"Oh my gosh she's in G-LOC." Maverick muttered.
Meanwhile everyone on base, Phoenix and Bob's stomach dropped when they heard Bambi was in G-LOC. "Come on, Bambi." Rooster muttered in fear.
"BAMBI! BAMBI!" Maverick called out. "She's going to burn in!" Thumper stated with fear. "I'm going after her!" Maverick said to Thumper and Moose as he took off. "Come on Come on, Give me tone, Give me tone." Maverick said as he locked Target on her. The alarm started blaring in Bambi's Cockpit. "Snap out of it Bambi!" Maverick said. "Come on Come on." Moose muttered as he was on edge. "Come on, COME ON!" Maverick exclaimed. Bambi opened her eyes, hearing her name and the alarm telling her to pull up. "BAMBI! BAMBI!" Maverick shouted. She looked as she was almost about to crash. She gasped and managed to pull up successfully. "Holy Shit!" Bambi exclaimed as she then met up with Maverick, Moose and Thumper.
"Bambi, are you ok?" Maverick asked her. "Yeah, I'm fine, i'm okay." Bambi said. "Mom?" She mumbled but loud enough that Rooster heard her and so did Maverick. "That's enough for today." Maverick says as they made their way back to base. "That was so damn close." Moose commented. "Very close." Thumper added.
.....
Bambi and Rooster sat in the room, after everything unfolded. Even with Bob and Phoenix, Thumper and Moose went with them both. The duo sat in silence until Rooster broke it. "You okay?" Rooster asked. "I went into G-LOC..." Bambi replied. "You mentioned your mom?" Rooster questioned. "Because the same thing happened to my mom, except they were on a mission." Bambi said. "Wait... that was thing that...." Rooster said and she nodded. "Oh Bambi..." Rooster said then he pulled Bambi into a hug, then they heard the door open, it was Maverick.
"Phoenix and Bob are in the hospital, Few scratches and bruises but they'll be fine." Maverick informed Rooster and Bambi. "That's good." Rooster said. He sniffed. "I've never lost anyone and I don't know if I could handle it." He explained. His voice was strained. Bambi grabbed a hold of his hand and rubbed it. She felt her emotions coming in.
"Well you can rest now... the both of you." Maverick said instead. He didn't know how to answer his question. "That's not what he meant." Bambi said couldn't believe what she and Rooster was hearing. "You think it's so easy huh? You have no one to mourn you, that must be sad. No wife, no kids, no friends." Maverick sighed and said "Go home, get some rest." Rooster shook his head as he and Bambi got up.
"Why did you pull our papers out of the academy, why did you stand in our way!" Rooster yelled at him. "You two weren't ready." Maverick said calmly. "Bullshit!" Bambi snapped. "Ready for what? Huh? to fly like you? You had no right to do this to Bambi either." Rooster said as he growled through his teeth. "My parents didn't appreciate it either." Bambi snapped. Rooster shook his head. "No, ready to forget the book, trust your instincts, don't think just do, If you and Bambi think up there your dead. Believe me." Maverick said.
"My dad and Valor believed in you, Bambi and I are not gonna make the same mistake." Rooster said to him as he held Bambi's hand tightly. Maverick sighed as he kept eye contact on the both of them, then the door knocked. Maverick opened it to find Admiral Bates standing there, "Maverick."
Bambi froze as she looked at Warlock. "Bambi?" Rooster whispered. "Roost... it's Iceman..." Bambi said. The both of them stormed out of the room.