𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 | 𝘛𝘰𝘱 𝘨𝘶𝘯

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 || 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬

"𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺" 

- 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘨𝘢

𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐘𝐎𝐓𝐄 because it was the only available seat. She sat down and looked around the room, recognising most of the people from the night before.

"Attention on deck!" yelled a woman's voice before everyone stood up straight and watched Warlock, Cyclone, and Hondo make their way to the podium at the front of the room.

"Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your special training detachment, take a seat." The aviators took their seats in accordance with the Admiral's orders.

"My name is Admiral Bates, call sign Warlock." "You're all Top Gun graduates, the best of the best," Cassie noticed the smirks on the faces of her fellow pilots. "That was yesterday." Cassie watched as the same smirks faltered and fall on the faces of those in the room.

"The enemy's new fifth-generation fighter jets level the playing field." We no longer possess the technological advantage. The success will depend on the man or woman in the box The man or woman in the box determines success." Cassie stifled a laugh as she watched Phoenix flip Hangman off in front of her.

"Half of you will make the cut, and only one will be named mission leader." The remainder will fill any reserve roles that arise." Looking at the pilots in front of him, Warlock explained.

"Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this programme has ever produced. His exploits are legendary. What he has to teach may very well mean the difference between life and death." Warlock remarked as footsteps could be heard entering the hangar.

"I present Captain Pete Mitchell, call sign 'Maverick.'" Before stepping away from the podium, Warlock concluded. Cassie observed as Payback, Coyote, and Hangman's faces fell at the sight of the man they had thrown out of the bar the night before.

She knew Maverick had something to do with the mission, she watched as he smiled at the sight of her face as he walked up to the podium, glancing at the pilots before him.

"Good morning," He presented the F/A-18 manual. "Everything they expect you to know about your aircraft is contained in this book." I'm assuming you're all familiar with it?" he inquires, eliciting a few verbal responses and nods before tossing the manual into the trash can next to him.

"And we're off." Hondo mumbled

"So does your enemy. But what the enemy doesn't know is your limits. I plan to find those limits and push past them. So, we'll start with what you think you know." Rooster was the first to leave the room as he dismissed the group. Tension filled the air. Cassie smirked as she approached Maverick.

"Well, that was a good start," Cassie said, watching Maverick's face light up with a grin.

"I'm sure Rooster isn't overjoyed to see me," Maverick says, stating the obvious. "Yeah, well, hopefully he'll come around," Cassie responded before joining the rest of the group on their way to the change rooms.

━━━━━━━⚜━━━━━━━

Cassie joined the others, wearing her flight suit and holding her helmet as she sat on the edge of the couch, listening to the radio in the middle of the room.

Rooster, Fanboy, and Payback were the first to go. She wished the boys luck as they made their way to their planes on the tarmac.

"Good morning, aviators. This is your captain speaking." Welcome to basic fighting manoeuvres. Today's exercise is dogfighting, as you were briefed. No missiles, only guns, and no going below the hard deck of 5,000 feet. Shoot me down as a team, or else." Maverick said this as Ace and Phoenix exchanged glances.