Eternal - Iceman (Top Gun)

Three

Flight school - first hop.

The instructors decided that it was time for the pilots-in-training to go on their first hop. It was a simple one, but they made sure that they could point out potential weaknesses in the pilots' flying. Danielle and Tom were up first. Tom was in the front while she went in the back to assume the position of RIO. She had done some flying on her own, but she wanted to be with Tom.

They got prepped and gave the signal to launch. They shot up in the air. Danielle immediately started looking around. "There! 3 o'clock right." She said, spotting a plane.

The other plane began flying at high speed towards them. Tom stayed calm as he maneuvered around, always one step above the other pilot. Danielle noticed that the other plane was falling back. She told Tom this and he went up into a loop and went behind the plane, earning them a "kill".

Both planes landed and Tom and Danielle celebrated once they hopped out. Danielle suddenly had the urge to want to fly one of those planes. She told Tom to wait there and walked over to the commanding officer.

"I have a question, sir!" She stood straight and saluted him.

"At ease. What is your question?" He eyed her, confused.

"I would like to fly a plane sir, I have enough expertise to at least try." She explained, putting her right hand down from the salute.

"Who will be your RIO if I give you permission to do so?" He asked.

"Tom won't mind, I'm sure, sir." She pointed towards Tom.

"Okay, well bring Tom over here and we can confirm it." The commander said.

Sarah walked over to Tom and took him to the commander.

"Tom, is it ok if you can be my RIO for this hop? I would like to try to fly a plane." She asked him pleadingly.

"Of course, I don't mind at all!" Tom said, smiling.

"Okay you two, you have clearance. You will be the last plane to go though as we need to finish with the other pilots." The commander nodded his head and went to oversee something else.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Danielle happily jumped and smiled.

"Any time." Tom shook his head at her celebrating, a playful smile on his face.

The pair of them watched while the other pilots took turns against the other "enemy" plane. Most of them failed, but of course, Tony was able to successfully take it down. Danielle huffed as she saw him with his skills.

"Danielle and Tom, it is your turn. Good luck out there." The commander called to them. They hopped into their plane, in reverse order this time, and went off.

"Talk to me, Tom. Where is the plane?" Danielle asked as she got level in the sky.

"Four o'clock, left." He reported. She looked down and saw it. She then broke hard right, going towards the mountains. Using them as cover, she waited until the plane was above her, then flew in behind it.

"That's a kill!" She exclaimed.

They landed and prepared for the final briefing of their abilities. Danielle hoped that she did okay, because this was her first ever flight with anyone other than Tom watching.

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