Hang Me Out to Dry

Called Back

Sadie approached the door to the office of Haris 'Warden' Fuller, nervous for the sudden summons from the admiral. She raised her first, taking in a deep breath, before knocking. The door swung open to reveal the admiral sitting behind his desk along with her captain, holding the door open for her to enter.

"Admiral. Captain," she said greeting her commanding officers. Warden raised his hand indicating for her to take a seat across from him. She sat down noticing that her captain had moved to stand behind the admiral. Both men were looking at her, neither speaking for a moment. 

"Sirs, may I ask what this is about?" 

"Well Lieutenant, we have a serious matter to discuss here. Captain Reynolds here has informed me that you decided against applying to Top Gun?" 

"That is correct sir. I don't believe I have the experience necessary to succeed in the program. My plan is to apply in a few years."

Warden looked at her from over his glasses before looking to the captain standing behind him then back again. 

"Lieutenant, it says here that in the past year alone you have flown no less than four successful missions. You ranked highly in your initial training, and you have received a glowing review from Captain Reynolds."

Sadie's eyes flicked to her captain's in surprise. Reynolds smiled back at her warmly. It wasn't that Sadie didn't know she was a good pilot, she was sure she was. She just didn't expect her higher ups to have noticed her skills. 

"Now I think it was a mistake for you to not apply Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir, but the deadline for applications have passed. I will put in an application for the next cohort." 

"I happen to be close friends with the current head of Top Gun. We actually used to fly together back in the day. If you were interested I could simply write a letter and have you accepted to the program." 

Sadie froze, unsure of what to say. She was almost certain that someone was going to walk in with a camera any moment to declare this was all a big prank, but no one came. She looked back and forth between the two men who were looking back at her expectantly. 

"Sir, I'm sorry. Haven't the Top Gun candidates already been selected? Won't that mean that someone get's booted to next year?"

"I'm sure they have and yes it will, but I am willing to pull a few strings to help you succeed. Students get moved around all the time. You have been a commendable pilot during your time on my base and I believe you would be a great addition to the program. What do you say?" 

Sadie thought about it for a minute. This was a great opportunity and would set her way ahead in her career. 

"Yes sir, thank you sir," she said finally. Admiral Fuller and Captain Reynolds both broke out into a smile.

"Congratulations Lieutenant, I'm sure you'll receive your acceptance shortly."

Years passed and Sadie continued to impress the navy with her skills as a pilot. She had finished first in her class at Top Gun and had returned to the base in Hawaii and worked there ever since. Warden had become somewhat of a mentor to Sadie, encouraging her to meet her full potential when others would try to hold her back.  She mainly kept to herself, worrying too much about letting her family and her mentor down to focus on anything besides work. 

She was determined to continually prove to Warden that he didn't make a mistake by taking a chance on her and helping her get into Top Gun. Because of this, she had a poor reputation among her peers for being a stubborn and difficult to get along with. Sadie struggled to let things drop if they weren't being done in the way she thought they should, even if it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. 

Sadie had been called to Warden's office again with no background information again and she couldn't help but think back to the day she had been called on years ago. It was the day her life changed for the better. Knocking on the door, she heard a call for her to enter from inside. She slowly pushed open the door seeing Warden sitting behind his desk, looking as tired as she'd ever seen him. 

"Sir?"

"Ah yes Casper, take a seat please."

She sat across from him as he flipped through a stack of papers, searching his desk for something. He sighed when he finally found what he had been looking for, pushing the rest of the papers to the side. Taking his glasses off he rubbed at his eyes, a habit that Sadie knew occurred frequently when he was stressed. 

"Is everything alright Sir?" she asked.

"Nothing to worry yourself about Casper, but I appreciate it nonetheless. I called you in today to talk about this," he said holding up the paper for her. 

She took it scanning it quickly to see what it said.

"I'm sorry Sir. I don't think I understand. They're asking me to return to Top Gun? I completed my training years ago."

"You are not going to be returning for the traditional training Casper. This is a temporary call for a specialized mission. They are asking only for the best the Navy has to offer. Naturally you were on their list along with eleven other candidates if you accept."

Sadie looked from the paper in her hands to the admiral in front of her. There was only one possible answer. She was going back to Top Gun.