killshot (bradley bradshaw)

IX

19 DAYS UNTIL THE MISSION

The next morning, all the pilots met in the briefing room. As Jenna settled into a chair on Rooster's right, he looked over and smiled at her.

"Good morning, aviator," he said, mocking one of Maverick's favorite catchphrases.

"Right back at ya," Jenna said, winking at him. Maverick entered and walked to the front of the room, and they quickly shut up and paid attention.

"Good morning, aviators," Mav said, and both Rooster and Jenna tried to stifle their laughs. They covered by pretending they were both coughing. Phoenix turned around and gave them both a look but they shrugged their shoulders, feigning innocence. Jenna pulled out her journal to take notes on whatever it is Maverick was about to tell them.

"There is an underground uranium enrichment plant being built that goes against a multi-lateral NATO treaty," he started. "It will be fully operational in about three weeks. Our mission is to destroy this plant and get home safely."

The screen lit up behind him, and a Surface-to-Air Missiles diagram displayed on the screen. Jenna shuddered slightly.

"The route to the target will be GPS jammed and heavily guarded by SAMs," Mav stated. "But time is going to be your greatest opponent. In Phase 1 of this mission, you will fly through the canyon, avoiding detection by the radar-guided SAMs, which are expecting you to come from above. The hard ceiling for the mission will be 100 feet and your airspeed will be a minimum of 660 knots. The time to target is 2 minutes and 30 seconds. If you fly too fast, you risk losing control of your aircraft and crashing into the canyon walls. If you fly too slow," he paused. "you'll give enemy aircraft time to defend the target if you're detected. In aerial combat with 5th generation fighters, chances are you won't make it out in one piece."

Rooster and Jenna turned to look at each other, disbelief written across their faces. They were both thinking the same thing: this mission was nearly impossible.

But Maverick wasn't done speaking. "To learn this phase, there is a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon terrains. The faster you go, the higher the chance of mistakes. So since today is the first day, we are going to adjust the parameters a bit. For today's exercise, you are not to exceed an altitude of 300 feet, and you'll have 3 minutes to reach the target."

Jenna raised her eyebrows at what Maverick said and he nodded at her. 

"Killshot, you'll go first with Phoenix and Bob, Rooster, you'll be second with Payback and Fanboy. After that, we will go over the performances and learn from each other."

Jenna stopped listening after she heard who she was assigned with and looked over her notes, preparing herself for the first exercise. Doubt started to creep into her mind, but at least she was with Phoenix and Bob. Jenna stood up to gather her things as her wingmen walked around the seats to her and Rooster.

"Hey Killshot," Bob said. "You ready for this?"

"Oh yeah," Jenna replied, smiling. "We got this. There's no better duo than us three," she said.

Rooster whipped his his head around quickly at her words and raised an eyebrow at Jenna, questioningly. "I thought we were the best team?" He asked, fake pouting.

Before she could answer, Hangman came up to the group, poking his head into their conversation. "I heard y'all talking about the best, and here I am."

"Yeah right, Bagman," Phoenix said. "In your dreams."

"You are," he winked at Phoenix. She started to blush, but she was quick to respond, "Ugh, you're insufferable. Kill, let's go."

As Jenna followed behind her and Bob, Hangman called out to her. "Hey Harrison! Just so you know, a duo is two people, not three!"

"Don't care, dumbass!" Jenna yelled back, flipping him the bird. She turned her head back slightly, and in a mocking apologetic tone said, "Oh sorry, I hate it when it does that!"

Rooster burst out laughing as the three of them left the room, and the other pilots stayed back to watch and listen in on their exercise. They headed down to the lockers to get on their flight gear, and met Bob back out on the tarmac.  Once up in the air, Jenna flipped on her simulation screen and prepared to begin.

"Alright Killshot," Maverick's voice came the radio. "Today, you're mission leader. It's your responsibility to set the pace and get to the target on time. You ready?"

"Yes, sir." Jenna responded, then called over to Phoenix. "You guys good to go?"

"Yes ma'am," Bob responded.

"Okay. Let's turn and burn," Jenna said, grinning.

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AN: I'm having a little bit of a hard time remembering everything from the movies, so let me know if I royally messed something up. As always, thanks for reading!!!