SIENNA'S POV
"Shit." I heard Payback mumble as Admiral Simpson had just told us that the mission had been moved up a week.
"Sir, no one here has successfully flown the low level course." Coyote said.
"Nevertheless, you have been ordered to move on." He said.
"Captain." He said and dad walked up on the podium.
"We have one week left to focus on phase two, the most difficult stage of the mission. A pop-up strike with a steep dive requiring nothing less but two consecutive miracles." He said, this was going to be interesting.
"Two pairs of F18s will fly in a welded wing formation." He said.
"Teamwork is essential to both the mission's success and your survival." He said.
"As you know, the target rests between two mountains." He said as it was shown on the screen.
"To maintain the lowest possible altitude you'll invert directly into a steep dive you then roll upright and dive steeply. Your target is an impact point less than three metres wide." He said and we all looked intensely at the screen.
"The two-seat aircraft will paint the target with a laser bullseye. The lead single seat will breach the reactor by dropping a laser guided bomb through an exposed ventilation shaft on the surface. That's miracle number one." He said as it was all shown on the screen.
"Second team delivers the kill shot. That's miracle number two." He said.
"If you can't hold your dive, if you lose your laser lock, you'll miss." He said.
"If either team misses.... you'll fail." He said.
"Egress is a steep, high G climb out." He said as it was shown on the screen how steep the mountain was. Jesus Christ.
"And this is where you will be the most vulnerable." He said.
"This.... is coffin corner." He said and everyone looked at each other, that name doesn't ring a nice jolly bell.
"Should you manage to avoid this mountain you'll climb up straight up into enemy radar losing all your airspeed and boom, the enemy SAMs fill be fired upon you." He said.
"How fast you can dive back down into the canyon will mean the difference between life and death." He said and I didn't know whether to laugh or be gobsmacked.
"A climb like that, at that speed, we'll be pulling at least 8 Gs." Hangman said.
"9. Minimum." Dad said and the looks one everyone's faces were just insane.
"The stress limit of the F18s airframe is 7.5Gs, sir." Bradley said.
"That's the accepted limit." I said and everyone looked back at me.
"You wanna survive this mission? You'll have to pull beyond that limit, even if it means bending your airframe." I said.
"Exactly." Dad said, he kind of looked proud.
"Climbing out of that canyon, you'll be a sitting duck with SAMs coming at you from all directions." He said looking at the screen.
"You'll weigh close to two thousand pounds, fighting with everything you have just to keep from blacking out, your lungs imploding like an elephant sitting on your chest, your skull crushing your spine." He said. This sounds like pure fun.
"Your only chance of survival will be to get your aircraft back under the radar again. Then follow this canyon back to the carrier." He said.
"That's if you strike the target on time. If you don't, you may have an even bigger problem." He said.
"You'll be flying in a damaged F18 against one of the most lethal fighter planes ever produced." He said and everyone was silent.
"Sir.... is this even achievable?" Phoenix asked.
"In the end, the answer to your question will come down to the pilot." He said.
_________________________
I was standing in the control room watching everyone work their hardest to do this exercise successfully, none has yet to succeeded. Coyote, Phoenix and Bob were up in the air again. And I had Hangman, Payback, Fanboy and Bradley next to me in the control room.
"We're twelve seconds late to target, we gotta move!" We heard Bob say.
"I'm going as fast as I can." Coyote said a bit agitated.
"Blue team, you are spotted." Dad said.
"Bandit, bandit. Radar contact, 20 miles left, ten o'clock. He's coming fast." Bob said.
"Shot, it's Maverick." Coyote said.
"Stay focused." Phoenix said and we were all on the edge of our seats, even though this was just an exercise it still mattered.
"He's swinging around to the north." Bob said.
"What do you want to do?" Coyote asked.
"Continue, we're close. Stay on target. Be ready on that laser, Bob." Phoenix said.
"On it." Bob said.
"Popping in 3....2....1." Phoenix and Coyote said at the same time as they rolled over to make their dive.
"Talk to me, Bob. Where is Maverick?" Coyote asked.
"I'm a little busy right now." Bob said.
"We got this coyote." Phoenix said.
"Captured." Bob said as he had painted the target with laser.
"Got it, bombs away." Coyote said.
"Dammit, hung bomb. Hung bomb!" He said.
"Maverick got a missile lock on us." Phoenix said and the situation were escalating.
"Shit." I said.
"We're dead." Phoenix said with a sigh.
"That's a fail, return to base." Dad said.
"Coyote, do you copy?" Dad asked and we saw on the screen how his plane was still going. And then all of a sudden his plane started to dive.
"Coyote, level wing!" Dad said and we all stood up from our seats.
"He's in G-lock." Dad and I said at the same time.
"I'm going after him." Dad said and dad target his plane which caused an alarm to ring in Coyote's plane.
"C'mon. C'mon. C'mon." I mumbled. And all of a sudden his plane levelled out and he had regained control.
"I'm good. I'm good." Coyote said and we all took a breath of relief.
"Let's return to base." Dad said.
"BIRD STRIKE! BIRD STRIKE!" Dad yelled a minute later.
"ENGINE FAILURE!" Bob shouted and we all stood up quickly again.
"LEFT ENGINE IS OUT!" He shouted.
"We're on fire! We're on fire!" He said and Bradley moved closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder as both of us were breathing heavily.
"Shutting off fuel. Extinguishing fire." Phoenix said.
"We're losing the right engine!" Bob said.
"RIGHT IS OUT!" He shouted.
"Fuck." I mumbled.
"Goddammit." Phoenix said.
"Eject! Eject!" Dad said.
"Phoenix! Eject!" He shouted and we soon saw on the screen both Phoenix and Bob had ejected seconds before the plane crashed.
_______________________
"Bob and Phoenix will be okay." Dad said as he had entered the cafeteria where Bradley and I was sitting.
"I've never lost a wingman. In combat, off carrier, never." Bradley said.
"You've been lucky. Fly long enough, it'll happen. There will be others." Dad said.
"Easy for you to say." Bradley said. He seemed quite numb.
"No family who wants to know you, no one to mourn you when you burn in." He said. I didn't know whether to interfere or not. This just didn't seem like it had anything to with me.
"Go home, get some sleep." Dad said calmly.
"Why did you pull my papers at the academy?! WHY DID YOU STAND IN MY WAY?!" Bradley shouted as he walked over to dad.
"You weren't ready." Dad said and I raised my eyebrows.
"Ready for what? Fly like you?" He said offensively.
"No. Ready to forget the book! Trust your instincts. Don't think just do. If you think, you're dead. Believe me." Dad said.
"My dad believed in you, I'm not gonna make the same mistake." Bradley said and took a step back and Admiral Bates called over my dad. He closed the door to the cafeteria and Bradley sighed loudly. He looked over at me and quickly looked away.
"I know what you are thinking, he's an ass. He doesn't understand you. He stands in your way. Blah blah blah. Believe me I've been there." I said and he sighed.
"I need some air." Bradley said and walked out and I sighed. I wanted to go after him but I knew it was no use. He needed space. I walked out of the cafeteria to see dad leaning onto the wall a few metres away. He looked up and over at me. He actually looked quite upset. I sighed and mentally face palmed myself as I walked over to him.
"Iceman is dead." He said and I let out a sigh.
"Oh, dad. I'm so sorry." I said kindly. I knew how much Iceman meant to him. He was like a brother to him.
"It was not out of the blue, we knew it was coming. It just....." He said trying to find the words.
"Sucks." I said and he let out a chuckle.
"Yeah, it sucks." He said.
"C'mon." I said and gestured us to walk. We walked back into the cafeteria and I got us two cups of coffee.
"Here." I said and placed it in front of him.
"Thank you." He said and I sat down with a sigh.
"I thought you were going to go up in the air the day you got back." He said and I let out a chuckle
"My time will come, you just wait and see." I said and he nodded.
"You've always been big on surprises." He said and I chuckled.
"It's how I roll." I said and he chuckled.
"So, you and..." He said hesitantly and I smiled softly.
"Yeah." I mumbled.
"Congrats." He said and I chuckled.
"It's very new." I said and he nodded.
"I've always wanted to pair the two of you up, but, well, I haven't been in the position to do that." He said and I nodded.
"Yeah." I said.
"Glad you two got there on your own." He said and I let out a small chuckle.
"Sounds like it was inevitable, though." I said and he chuckled.
"Maybe." He said and took a sip of his coffee.
"So, when's the funeral?" I asked.
"Tomorrow. With the Navy, it all gets planned so fast." He said and I nodded.
"Get it over with." I said.
"Yeah, exactly." He said.
"You'll get an invitation." He said and I smiled softly.
"I'll see you there." I said and he nodded as I quickly stroke his wrist and smiled a sympathetic smile before I walked out of the cafeteria. I walked into the locker rooms where I saw everyone sitting in silence.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked.
"Iceman is dead." Hangman said and I nodded.
"Yeah." I let out.
"You knew?" Bradley asked.
"Well, they just told me." I said and he nodded.
"Did you know him?" Hangman asked.
"Not so well." I said and he nodded.
"I gotta get going." I said and quickly grabbed my clothes out of my locker and got changed in the bathroom. I grabbed my bag and walked out to the parking lot. I got in my car and a feeling of sadness and grief came over me and I quickly made a U-turn and drove to a whole other place.
I parked the car and gently closed the door. I walked through the gates and as I walked down the path at the cemetery where fallen Top Gun aviators, teachers and staff members rested in peace and quiet. I walked over to a tombstone I hadn't been visiting in a while.
"Hey, mom." I said and brushed away some dirt from her stone and I dried off a tear.
"Look at this." I said and pulled away some of the weed that had been growing.
"I've realised a lot lately, mom." I said.
"And I've discovered much." I added.
"You know Bradley Bradshaw, you were teaching his father, Goose. Well, I think you know who Bradley is as well." I said.
"He and dad are not on good terms, he pulled his paper to the academy. Set him back four years." I said.
"And I don't know what to do because one of these days, Bradley will kill him. He is so mad." I said.
"And I'm back in the Navy again. I've given Maddie a lot more responsibility at the bar and she is thriving, she is doing so well. Anyways, dad is the instructor on this mission and I'm not sure anyone believes it's possible to succeed." I said.
"I know it can be done, they are just thinking too much. Especially Bradley, he takes his personal life up in the air. He can't put it aside for later. No matter what I say or what I do." I said.
"I know I talk a lot about Bradley, I know. It's just.... I'm scared dad picks him to do this mission and that he won't make it back." I said.
"I need him to come back." I said.
"What shall I do?" I mumbled as I sat there, thinking about a way to make my fellow aviators believe that this was possible. And then it hit me.
"Thank you, mom. I'll be back soon." I said and got up and got back to my car.
It was a dangerous and possibly career costing plan, but it was worth it.