Stupid Cupid

Warriors and Lovers

Gemma Ross call sign Firebird sat beside her three best friends as they prepared for Top Gun class to start, she looked over to her RIO

"Hey, Turtle."

Her Rio hummed and looked over from his conversation with Goose "Whats up Fire?"

"If we dont win this you know our brothers are going to be on our tails right?"

Turtle laughed, by some stroke of fate Firebirds older brother and Turtles older brother were also co-pilots, the two had won Top gun giving them bragging rights for years to come.

"They can keep their big fat mouths shut."

Maverick leaned over and grinned at Firebird "Your brother would give you lip even if you won Fire."

Goose laughed "Ain't that the truth, knowing him he would say the rest of the class was subpar and thats the only reason you won."

The four broke into laughter which was interrupted as another group of pilots entered, the group of friends had arrived early because Turtle had drug them there.

Turtle had his call sign because he was the cautious one of the bunch, he kept Firebird on time and made sure she thought things through before she did them... That was why they were one of the top teams in the Navy...

Firebird closed her eyes and began quietly muttering something to herself to quiet her mind until she heard the voice of the commanding officer

"During Korea, the Navy kill ratio was 12-to-1. We shot down 12 of their jets for every one of ours. During Vietnam, that ratio fell to 3-to-1. Our pilots become dependent upon missiles. They had lost some of their dogfighting skills. Now Top Gun was created to teach A.C.M. Air Combat Manoeuvring. Dogfighting. By the end of Vietnam,
that ratio was back up to 12-to-1."

Firebird began to smile leaning over to Turtle she muttered "This is going to be so much fun."

Turtle grinned "If this doesnt get me a girlfriend nothing will."

"Blinds, please. Now I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you too our commanding officer at Top Gun. The very first man to win the Top Gun trophy. You will not find a finer fighter pilot anywhere in the world. Commander Mike Metcalf. Callsign, Viper."

Firebird grinned looking up to find her dads best friend and her "uncle" stadning before them. Her dad had won Top Gun the year after Viper did and the two had fought in Nam together. Not to mention Viper was Turtles father, which made the young man sink in his seat a little bit so he wasnt noticed.

"Lady and Gentlemen. You are the top one percent
of all naval aviators. The elite. The best of the best. We'll make you better. You'll fly at least two combat missions a day, attend classes in between and evaluations of your performance."

Firebird didnt feel the eyes that were watching her but Maverick noticed, he looked towards the man who was watching his friend. The guy shifted his eyes from Firebird to Maverick and smirked twirling his open between his fingers.

 "Now, on each combat sequence, you're gonna meet a different challenge. Every encounter is gonna be
much more difficult. We're gonna teach you to fly the F-14 right to the edge of the envelope, faster than you've ever flown before and more dangerous. Now, we don't make policy here, gentlemen. Elected officials, civilians do that. We are the instruments of that policy. And although we're not at war, we must always act as though we are at war.

Maverick had turned in his seat to look over the other pilots and Goose frowned "What are you doing?"

Firebird and Turtle glanced over to their friends as Maverick replied "I'm just wondering who's the best."