𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 | 𝘛𝘰𝘱 𝘨𝘶𝘯

𝐨𝐧𝐞 || 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐆𝐮𝐧

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 505, 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦"

- 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺𝘴

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐍 beat down on Cassandra's back as she walked back towards the hangar with her helmet in hand, ready for a debrief of the exercise she and her squadron, the Golden Eagles, had just completed.

Aviators perched on her face as beads of sweat cascaded down her neck. She couldn't help but smile; being surrounded by planes and the smell of jet fuel had always made her happy since she was a child, and memories of holding her father's hand as she watched planes take off in the distance filled her mind.

A voice interrupted her thoughts, "Ace, Flash wants to see you."

Confusion filled her features; she had done everything correctly during the exercises and had not broken any rules; why would he want to see her? Before heading to the office, she nodded and thanked the man. She knocked repeatedly until she heard a faint "Come in" from within the room.

"Ace, please take a seat," Flash said, looking at her, "Oh, I'm fine, thank you sir." Cassandra responded while he watched her looking slightly impressed.

Her father had given her advice on how to impress her superiors.

"Lieutenant, you have been selected to be sent to Top Gun," he continued. Cassandra's face was filled with confusion once more.

"Sir, I don't understand, I graduated from Top Gun years ago," Cassandra explained, puzzled as to why she was returning.

"There's a mission, one they need the best pilots for, and that's where you come in; you're going back to Top Gun," he said as she smiled softly.

"Thank you very much, sir; is that all?" Cassandra inquired, anticipating telling her parents and friends back home. 

"That's all Lieutenant, I wish you the best of luck," Flash said before returning to his work. Cassandra nodded, turning around to face the door, and exiting the office while pumping her fist in the air.

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Cassandra pulled into her parents' driveway, the driveway of the home where she had grown up. Delilah, her daughter, had spent the day with them while she went to work. It was the weekly family dinner night, which her father had scheduled for every other week.

As she walked through the front door, she was greeted by the aroma of apple and cinnamon muffins, her childhood favourite. She set her bag down and walked into the kitchen, catching her daughter's gaze.

"Mummy!" Delilah exclaimed as she raced towards her mother's arms on her tiny legs.

Cassandra kissed her forehead and hugged her, relishing the moments when she returned home from work to her daughter. She met her mother's gaze as she raised her head.

"How was work today, Cass?" her mother asked as she held a freshly baked muffin in her hand.

Cassie smiled sweetly at her mother before answering, "It was good, I got told I was chosen for a mission back at Top Gun, which was unexpected" Cassie explained, "I am not surprised you're an amazing pilot, just like your father" Dianne spoke to her daughter, a smile on her face.

As they got closer, the trio heard footsteps. "Who is a great pilot like me?" Her father inquired, smiling at his daughter.

Cassie smiled at her father, a glint in her eyes, and said, "Me of course, dad," causing him to chuckle.

Delilah grabbed her mother's arm and exclaimed, "Mummy, come see what I made!" leading her into the dining room to see a piece of paper with a drawing surrounded by various coloured pencils scattered in various positions and angles.

Cassie smiled as she looked at the picture, which depicted four stick figures on a grassy hill. "I love it sweetie, I'll have to put that on the fridge at home," she said as she kissed her daughter's head.

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Cassie sat at the dinner table, reading the message from Mickey.

'𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙏𝙤𝙥 𝙂𝙪𝙣?'

'𝙔𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪?' She responded in writing.

'𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝, 𝙍𝙪𝙚𝙗𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜; 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬; 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚,' he texts. Cassie's brow furrowed; who else was on this mission that she might have known about?

'𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧,'she replied before returning her attention to her daughter's conversation with her parents.

"Who exactly is it?" Ron inquired; his gaze fixed on his daughter as she read the messages she was receiving.

"It's Mickey, he's also going on the mission and is asking if I want to go to the hard deck for some drinks before tomorrow."

"You should go Cass, have some fun before this mission, you have earned it," he said smiling at his daughter, who wore a disapproving look

"But Del needs to get to sleep and I don't want to wake her up late to take her home and I have a big day tomorrow-"

"Me and your mother will look after Delilah, just go and have some fun, catch up with Penny and everyone else" He explained, giving Cassie a pointed look

"Are you sure, I promise I won't be gone too long?"

"Del can sleep here tonight, and you can sleep in your old room when you get home," Ron assured Cassie. "Say hello to Penny for me," Ron said as he watched his daughter grab her patched jacket. "Thanks dad, love you Del," she said as she kissed her daughter's head and her father's cheek with a smile before leaving the house.

She reached into her bag for her phone, her dirty blonde hair whipping around her face in the wind, and texted Mickey, '𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙨, 𝙄'𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮:)'

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

I've already started writing the next chapter, in which Cassie meets Jake and the rest of the crew. It's not a very long chapter because its more about her home life. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter; I couldn't help but smile when I read the sweet moments between Cassie and Delilah. I'm debating whether or not to create a playlist for this book. See you in the next upload.

:)