Keeper Of The Flame ━ pete mitchell [1] ✔

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒

[ Chapter One ]

Every Minute Is A Long Time

Slamming the doors shut, Kate made her way through the corridor. One more meeting. That was it. Just one more, then she'd be done, thankfully, the next one was short.

She rolled the sleeves of her jean jacket up, taking a deep breath before opening the doors with her free hand. The other hand was holding her coffee. In everyone's eyes, she was late. Jester sent her a tired look as everyone else just looked at her. "You're late." He mused.

"I'm not, everyone else is just early." Kate remarked.

Viper stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "Everyone, this is Capt. Kate Maxwell, call sign: Kerosene. She is here to assist with training." Viper introduced. She walked to the front, wishing it was the backdoors.

Part of her wanted to just get kicked out right away so she didn't have to do this. But she knew some admirals who'd prefer her to leave, so she was going to do this out of pure spite. Kate sat down on a stool, one knee brought up to her chest, she looked at Viper and Jester.

"Carry on..." Kate said, gesturing for one of them to continue.

Two people in the front seats looked at her, but one kept his eyes completely on her. Kate subtly tapped her fingers on her leg. Her mom used to say that Kate was made purely of energy, sarcasm and spite.

"Gentlemen, you are the top 1% of all naval aviators. The elite," Viper looked at the aviators, "the best of the best. We'll make you better."

"Fly at least two combat missions a day, attend classes in between, and evaluations of your performance. Now, on each combat sequence, you're going to meet a different challenge. Every encounter is gonna be much more difficult. We're gonna teach you to fly the F-14 right to the edge of the envelope, faster than you've ever flown before and more dangerous." Viper took a pause before continuing.

"Now, we don't make policy here, gentlemen. Elected officials, civilians do that. We are the instruments of that policy. And although we are not at war, we must always act as though we are at war." Viper continued on.

Kate didn't pay much attention. She had heard the introduction so many times that she should have it memorized by now. She had a sip of her coffee in the to-go cup. She just hoped it was almost over.

"And they have the option to come back here to be TOPGUN instructors. You think your name's gonna be on that plaque?" Viper asked.

One of the guys in the front row, the one who had his eyes on Kate, answered. "Yes, sir."

"That's pretty arrogant, considering the company you're in." Viper noted.

"Yes, sir."

"I like that in a pilot." Viper responded, walking around. "Just remember, when it's over out there, we're all one the same team."

It was almost over. Viper said a few more things before announcing that they were dismissed. But of course, he pulled Kate back.

"Dismissed," Kate got up, a sigh of relief escaping her lips, "Captain Maxwell, a moment..."

There were still a few of them that stayed, looking at the plaque. They could only see Viper and Kate's side profiles. It meant that they couldn't see the annoyance in Kate's eyes. "What is it, sir?" Her tone came out harsher than intended. It was crystal clear that she had barely gotten any sleep.