Come Back To Me // Top Gun: Maverick

[Pheonix] Everyone Leaves

"Time is your greatest enemy." Maverick says.

       

We were in one of the classrooms with Mav and me explaining the mission as well as today's exercise to the graduates.

         

"Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two-plane teams. You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target. Radar-guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area. These SAMs, they're lethal. But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below."

          

"That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them." Rooster than says.

           

"That's exactly what I'm gonna train you to do."

           

"On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum." I start to explain. "You exceed this altitude... radar will spot you and you're dead. Your airspeed will be 660 knots minimum. Time to target: Two and a half minutes. That's because fifth-generation fighters wait at an air base nearby. In a head-to-head with these planes in your f-18s, you're dead. That's why you need to get in, hit your target and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest adversary."

             

"You'll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon. The faster you navigate this canyon, the harder it'll be to stay under the radar of these enemy SAMs. The tighter the turns, the more intensely the force of gravity on your body multiplies... Compressing your lungs... Forcing the blood from your brain... Impairing your judgment and reaction time."

             

"So for today's lesson, we're gonna take it easy on you. Max ceiling: 300 feet. Time to target: Three minutes. Good luck."

             

We dismissed everyone to get changed into their flight suits and wait on the tarmac to test out the course. We had Hondo out there with them instructing and sorting them out into groups. Mav and I stayed back in the classroom, sitting on top of the desks and watching the screen that showed us how the groups were going. 

       

"So, what's going on with you and Seresin?" Dad suddenly asks. 

       

I turn my head looking over at him raising an eyebrow.

       

"What about me and Seresin?"

         

"What's going on with the two of you? I saw you two at the Hard Deck on our first night here."

         

"Yeah, nothing is going on between us dad. Just friends. If you can even call us that."

        

"Well, then something must be going on between you and Trace then." He then says with a smirk.

          

"Let's just get back to work Captain." I say rolling my eyes. 

       

We watched the pilots go out in different groups. One by one we watched each group attempt the course. No one passed. Everyone was back in the classroom trying to figure out what had happened out there and what went wrong. First up, Coyote with Pheonix and Bob.