Avalanche

| the miracles |

At the beginning of class, Vice Admiral Simpson is there to greet us, instead of the lovely, familiar face of Uncle Mav.

Cyclone clears his throat. "We've received more intel that the uranium enrichment plant set as your target, will be operational earlier than we thought. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in almost 10 days time." He adds, "Which is why, as a result, your mission has been moved up by one week."

One week.

We all knew the odds.

I glance over to Hangman sitting next to me, who's snarky smile has suddenly become tight. 

We only had a week left to prepare.

Coyote speaks up, "Sir, no one here has successfully completed the low level course we've been assigned."

"Your orders are to move on." Vice Admiral Simpson says, "Captain."

Captain Pete Mitchell returns to his rightful place at the front of the room. "We have one week left to focus on Phase 2. It's the most difficult and crucial part of the mission." Uncle Mav gestures to the board behind him, as it shows what he's about to explain. "It's a pop up strike with a deep dive, requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles."

"Two?" Phoenix questions. It was enough to ask us for one, but two?

Maverick answers, "Two pairs of F-18s will fly front to back. Teamwork and precise coordination is essential to the mission success, and your survival."

Maverick continued, as an icon appeared on the screen.

The uranium plant.

"As you know, the uranium plant rests between the mountains. On a final approach, you'll invert directly into a steep drive. This allows you to fly down the mountain at the lowest altitude and the only possible attack angle."

The screen zooms in on the target itself.

"Your target, is an impact point less than 3 meters wide. The two seat aircraft will lead, guiding the laser lock for the solo pilot. They will first breach the reactor by releasing the laser guided missile, on the exposed ventilation hatch, here. This creates an opening for the second pair, to aim, lock, and load, therefore delivering the kill shot to destroy the target. If either team misses the target... the mission in a failure."

"And after we hit the target?" I question.

Maverick's face twists, he knows something we don't know about this part of the mission. "That's Coffin Corner." He looks straight at me when he says this.

... our superiors don't expect us to survive this mission. No wonder Maverick's on edge just like the rest of us. They didn't expect us to come home. My hands tightened and slowly turned white with cold anger.

"You'll pilot into a steep higher G climb to avoid hitting the mountain." Maverick says, looking at the board, his back to us.

Hangman speaks up from beside me, "A steep climb at that speed, you're pulling at least 8 G's."

"9, minimum." Maverick corrects him.

"The stress limit of the F-18s airframe is 7.5." Rooster states matter of factly.

"That's the accepted limit. To survive this mission, you'll pull beyond that. Even if it means bending your airframe, you'll be pulling so hard you'll weigh close to 2000 pounds. Your skull crushing your spine, your lungs imploding, like an elephant sitting on your chest. Fighting with everything you have to keep from blacking out." Maverick says a little breathlessly, and it seems like he's going through the course in his head.