killshot (bradley bradshaw)

V

As soon as she was up in the air, Jenna remembered that Maverick never told her who her partner would be that day. All he said was that she was going first.

Jenna moved her head around in her cockpit, looking for another F-18. One pulled up on her left, and she realized it was Rooster.

"Hey there, wingman," Jenna said, testing the coms.

"Hi Kill," he responded and waved. Jenna smiled at the nickname.

"So what's the plan?" She asked him. Rooster had a couple more years of experience than she did, so Jenna was prepared to follow his lead today. Before he could respond, Maverick's voice came through the radio.

"Good morning aviators, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers."

 Jenna could hear his grin through the coms. She laughed a little at how excited Maverick sounded.

"Today we are dogfighting," he continued. "Guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the 5000 feet hard deck."

"Yes sir." She said back into the radio while a grunt came from Rooster's end.

"You will work as a team to shoot me down, while I attempt to shoot back." Maverick explained.

"You guys want to put some skin in the game?" Jenna asked. Competition was always more fun when there's a punishment for the loser.

"Alright, Killshot, what did you have in mind?" Maverick asked.

"First team to get shot has to do 200 pushups," She offered.

"That's a lot of pushups," Maverick laughed.

"Yeah, well I won't be the one doing them." She responded confidently.

"Killshot," Rooster interjected, not pleased with the direction the conversation was headed.

"You've got yourself a deal, Killshot." Maverick agreed. "Fights on. Let's turn and burn."

Maverick went silent after agreeing to the punishment. Rooster and Jenna were flying side by side, neither of them spotting Maverick yet.

"Kill, you got anything?" Rooster asked her.

"No, my radar's clear" She said back.

Something shot up between her plane and Rooster's, narrowly missing both of their inner wings.

"Holy shit!" Rooster yelled.

"Fuck!" Jenna spit out as she concentrated on pulling her aircraft to the right. "That was Mav!"

"Yeah no shit" Rooster responded as he pulled left.

"Okay attitude adjustment, right now." Jenna said to Rooster, a little annoyed with his comment.

"Yes ma'am," he agreed.

Jenna leveled out her plane and craned her head to look for Maverick.

"Killshot, he's behind you!" She heard Rooster say over the radio.

"Oh fuck. I'm gonna try to shake him," She responded, attempting to maneuver her plane out of Maverick's potential line of fire.

"Rooster, where are you?" She asked, needing some backup.

"I'm coming, just hang in there." He responded.

"Fuck this," Jenna grunted as she broke left, trying to evade Maverick. He was right on her tail. "Rooster! Get in here!!"

"Hold on, hold on." He yelled. "Break right!!"

Jenna broke off to the right immediately as Rooster flew into the space between her and Maverick. She made it out safely but Maverick had Rooster perfectly lined up.