Keeper Of The Flame ━ pete mitchell [1] ✔

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑜

[ Chapter Two ]

An Angel's Smile Is What You Sell

Kate had stayed up all night to finish fixing her red C10 truck. She stood outside, sitting off to the side as she watched everyone arrive at the TOPGUN base.

    "Captain Maxwell." Pete greeted. He was one of few who arrived a bit earlier.

    "Lieutenant Mitchell." Kate greeted in return. Upon getting the greeting, Pete grinned.

    Once everyone started arriving, Kate took her seat on the stool. Viper had recommended her being at the front where Jester was in case assistance was required. Even though her back was facing the sun, she put her aviator sunglasses on.

    "Now, you'll also be trained and evaluated by a few civilian specialists. The civilians are here because they are our very best source of information on enemy aircraft." Jester explained right away.

    Kate looked up and everything started to make more and more sense. Now she knew how Charlotte knew about Viper bringing her there. "One of the most qualified is our TAGREP, callsign: Charlie. She has a Ph.D in astrophysics, and she's also a civilian contractor, so you do not salute her." Jester took a breath before continuing. "But you better listen to her, because the Pentagon listens to her about your proficiency."

    "It's all yours, Charlie." Jester told her.

    "Thank you." And Charlotte turned around. She looked at Kate briefly before looking at the rest of them.

"Hello. We will be dealing with F-5s and A-4s as our MiG simulators. Now, then, as most of you know, the F-5 doesn't have the thrust-to-weight ratio the MiG-28 has. And it doesn't bleed energy below 300 knots, like the MiG-28. However, the MiG-28 does have a problem with its inverted flight tanks. It won't do a negative-G pushover." Charlotte started to explain.

Kate saw Pete and Nick whispering something to each other. Her eyes darted from them to Charlotte. She was waiting for her to say something.

"The latest intelligence tells us that the most it will do is one negative- excuse me, lieutenant. Is there something wrong?" Charlotte stopped in her tracks while looking directly at Pete.

"Yes, ma'am, the data on the MiG is inaccurate." He answered. A small smile appeared on his face.

"How's that lieutenant?" Charlotte asked.

Pete took off his sunglasses and answered. "Well, I just happened to see a MiG-28 do-"

"We, we." Nick added.

"Sorry, Goose. We happened to see a MiG-28 do a four-G negative dive." Pete corrected.

"Where did you see this?" Charlotte asked.

Kate took a sip of her coffee. "That's classified." Pete responded. She had to use all of her strength to not laugh.

"It's what?" Charlotte said in disbelief.

"It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Pete told her. As soon as he said that, Kate had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from laughing.